BY LINUS CHIBUIKE
THE Nigerian Military has accused those it called its detractors, “alongside their local and international collaborators” of mischievously and deliberately misrepresenting troops’ efforts to ensure compliance with the curfew imposed by legitimate civil authorities in Lagos and other states.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, said from the beginning of the #EndSARS protest, the Army had been aware of a grand design by the sponsors of the protests to implicate it, noting that the plan was to embark on massive propaganda to discredit the military.
Buratai said this just as he warned the military hierarchy that there would be “no room for disloyalty amongst all officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army.”
He spoke during a meeting with Principal Staff Officers of the Nigerian Army, General Officers Commanding and Field Commanders on Monday.
While pointing out that the said detractors and their collaborators had been threatening to drag the Military to the International Criminal Court, Buratai urged the officers not to be afraid of the ICC for carrying out their legitimate duties as stated in the Nigerian Constitution.
He said, “The plan was to embark on massive propaganda to discredit the military and the government so as to set the people against the Nigerian Army once it is called out to aid the civil authorities. The NA being aware of the devilish plan, was careful not to be dragged in and issued the initial warning, through a press release on 14 October 2020, of our resolve to secure and safeguard a United Nigeria.
“Now the detractors alongside their local and international collaborators have mischievously and deliberately misrepresented troops’ efforts to ensure compliance with the curfew imposed by legitimate civil authorities in Lagos and other states.
“These agitators are falsely accusing the NA of being responsible for the activities of the miscreants despite glaring evidence to the contrary. They have continually threatened to report the NA to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and also threatened various forms of sanctions against personnel and their families.
“Thankfully however, a large percentage of Nigerians and the international community have started seeing through the smokescreen of falsehood and deliberate misrepresentation of facts being orchestrated by enemies of Nigeria and have retracted their earlier false publications.”
“Despite all these, the Nigerian Army has continued to exercise restraint; applied all the Principles of Internal Security Operations and fully abided by the internationally recognised Rules of Engagement as contained in our published Standard Operating Procedures for Internal Security Operations, which are derived from the International Human Rights Laws and are in accordance with the international principles guiding the use of force,” the COAS added.
Stressing the need to ignore threats from those he described as enemies of the nation, Buratai said, “None of the PSO, GOCs, Field Commanders and other officers and soldiers of the NA should be afraid of the ICC for carrying out their legitimate duties as stated in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and other extant laws, rules and regulations of Nigeria.”
He, however, told military operatives that they needed to show the detractors and other elements of destabilisation that “they are neither part of them nor in anyway supportive of their activities at all times.”
He ordered that any act of arson or attempt to kill or maim any military or security personnel and other law abiding civilians must be responded to quickly and decisively.
“In dealing with any security threat, they must fully cooperate with personnel of the Nigerian Police Force and other security agencies and must ensure that everyone is in full compliance with imposed curfews and any other extant security instructions in force,” the COAS said.
He said the Nigerian Army remained resolute in doing everything possible to ensure that “subversive elements, detractors and other enemies of this great nation do not achieve their aims and objectives of destabilisation.”
Buratai also pointed out that the activities of unscrupulous elements had posed some potential security threats.
“The recent activities by unscrupulous elements have shown their desire to acquire arms and ammunition at all costs from security personnel. No less than 10 AK-47 rifles have been lost to these miscreants in the past 2 weeks across the country with attendant loss of lives of personnel,” he said.
He charged the GOCs to arrest the situation and deal decisively with any attack on their locations.
