The Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, has disclosed that the security agencies and the military constantly come under pressure to compromise during elections through various financial inducements, but has called on Nigerians to anchor their trust in the military as they strive to maintain neutrality in accordance with the president’s directive.
Speaking during the Ministerial weekly briefing today, the Chief of defence Staff who provided updates of strides made by the Military in the fight against insurgency, terrorism and banditry, stated that operatives were being trained to follow the codified rules of engagement before, during and after the elections.
The CDS further stated that over 300,000 persons had been freed from the hands of abductors since 2016 while refugees who fled the northeast owing to insurgency had started to return.
He admitted that there still existed Internal sabotage within the military, but asserted that they had not succeeded.
He said it was for this reason he debunked a recent allegation by an international news media which accused the military of carrying out over 10,000 illegal abortions on female victims of the war in the North east.
According to him, “it is impossible for the military to have been engaged in a planned abortion programme since 2013 and as the military commander in charge of Operation Lafia Dole between 2016 and 2017, I never heard of any such thing.”
He therefore condemned the report in its entirety, noting that the military was not unaware of extra territorial elements who did not want peace to fester in the country.
The CDS also revisited the alleged Lekki toll gate massacre in 2020, insisting that the Nigerian military was not interested in killing its own people, but rather more concerned in protecting the citizens.
He added that the efforts of the military in the fight against crude oil theft had been yielding positive results with the increase in the crude oil production of 1.6 million barrels per day.
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