THE Nigerian Army has accused members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) of promoting insecurity in Nigeria through misinformation and the misrepresentation of facts against it.
Army spokesperson, Onyema Nwachukwu, said IPOB, through one Solomon Okafor, of Radio Biafra, London, was using pictures of fake soldiers arrested recently by operatives to malign the Army on social media.
Nwachukwu accused Okafor of peddling malicious disinformation and falsehood on social media, and alleging complicity by troops in a fictitious case of the kidnapping of a family of 10 in Kaduna State.
He added that the said Okafor also alleged that about 87 per cent of Nigerian soldiers were kidnappers and bandits.
“It must, therefore, be clarified that the said report is a creation of IPOB/ESN social media foot soldiers, with intent to malign the NA.
“The picture bandied around on the social media is a picture of fake soldiers (impostors) who were arrested in the Lagos-Ondo states axis by troops of Operation CHECKMATE under 81 Division NA sometime in April 2022. The operation was widely publicized in both the new and traditional media before handing over the suspects to the Nigeria Police.
“It is also crucial to emphasize that following troops’ successful exploits in unravelling and unmasking IPOB elements who have been masquerading as unknown gunmen and wreaking carnage against Ndigbo in South East Nigeria, IPOB/ ESN have severally attempted to use doctored graphic images, video footages and spurious narratives in online and social media campaigns to disparage the NA and bring her to disrepute,” he said.
Nwachukwu told Okafor and his sponsors that no matter the campaign of calumny by IPOB and other fifth columnists, the Nigerian Army would be undeterred and would remain a cherished national institution that would continue to execute its constitutional mandate of defending the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Nigeria toward building a united nation.
He urged members of the public to disregard the “mindless and irresponsible propaganda clearly emanating from IPOB, which he said was aimed at promoting insecurity in the country.
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