The Nigerian Army (NA) has refuted report in some section of the media that only northern officers were deployed in the Southeast to suppress tension in the zone.
In a statement, the Director, Army Public Relations, Mohammed Yerima, said that the Nigerian Army being a national body did not promote or post its officers and men along ethnic or religious lines.
He said postings in the Nigerian Army werre routine exercises and werre based on professional competences not as portrayed by the baseless publication.
Yerima added that the Nigerian Army did not train, deploy or operate along ethnic, religious, tribal or regional divides and senior officers were posted to command units based on their capability and competence taking into consideration their posting history.
He noted that officers were the most frequently posted operatives of the Nigerian Army and because of the bias and seed of discord that the author of the report wanted to sow, it did not allow him to do a thorough background check of his report.
The Army spokesperson said part of the poorly scripted article stated that Nigerian Army’s deployment was based on ethnic line.
Yerima added that, to put the record straight: “it is true that the General Officer Commanding 82 Division Enugu, Major General Taoreed Lagbaja is from Southwest, the Commander 34 Brigade Owerri Brigadier General Raymond Utsaha is from the North Central. Major General Gold Chibuisi is of the Southeast extraction and is also the General Officer Commanding 2 Division Ibadan which is the largest in number of states under command including 4 Brigade in Edo State.”
He further stated that Brigadier General Farouk Mijinyawa was never the Commander of 16 Brigade as misrepresented by the writer.
“It is therefore clear that the concocted story lacks everything in terms of credibility and exists only in the pigment of the author’s imagination,” he stated.
Yerima added that the NA urged the general public to know that in the past months, several subversive elements had attempted to discredit the formidable security network in the Southeast and the Nigerian Army in line with her constitutional roles of aiding the civil authority, deployed officers and men to checkmate the activities of these bad elements who were bent on wrecking havoc in the region.
He requested all peace-loving Nigerians to disregard the content of the said article in its entirety as it lacked common logic, adding that Nigerian Army under the able leadership of the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru remained committed to the defence of the territorial integrity of Nigeria as well as protecting life and property of all citizens and residents in Nigeria.
Yerima also solicited the continuous support of all patriotic Nigerians in stamping out activities of criminals including subversive and divisive elements for a peaceful and prosperous Nigeria.
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