Military Says A top politician in the NE Sponsoring Anti-Military Plot
Nigeria's Defense Headquarters today said a prominent political leader from one of the northeast states is sponsoring “a renewed campaign aimed at attracting international condemnation and indictment of the Nigerian military and its operations in the Northern part of the country.”
The statement signed by its spokesman, Gen Chris Olukolade did not mention who this political big wig is, but fingers are already pointing at Adamawa state Governor, Murtala Nyako and his Borno counterpart, Shettima.
The statement titled “New Plot Against Operations of Nigerian Military,” campaign “is to rely heavily on doctored and falsified audio visual materials, some of which are already trending in the social media,” adding that the alleged plot “is to be coordinated and funded by a prominent political leader whose state is presently under the State of Emergency.”
The military claimed that the details of the plot against the Nigerian military was “already being fine-tuned by a group of media practitioners” and would be “presented for the final ratification and funding by the political figure.”
The military also alleged that the plot “is expected to forcefully whip up sentiments of genocide allegedly targeted against a particular religious group. The planners of this multi-media crusade also hope to use it to gain some mileage in the drive to secure international attention as they have not achieved this sufficiently despite previous efforts.”
The statement stated that the so-called plot against the military was “also meant to reinforce the ongoing media campaign against the military,” adding that it “was adopted as an alternative by those who are bent on politicizing the ongoing counter terrorists operations in the northern part of the country.”
According to the military a newspaper “last week published some of the doctored pictures which the Defense Headquarters instantly repudiated, pointing out that they do not represent activities or operations of the Nigerian military.”
The Defense Headquarters added “wishes to reiterate its rejection of pictures and video footages from unverifiable sources claiming to reflect activities or so called atrocities purportedly perpetrated by Nigerian security forces.” His statement added: “They do not reflect or depict the true state of affairs or operations of Nigerian military or any of the security forces. The public is advised to watch out and not allow themselves to be hoodwinked by these acts of infamy orchestrated by this desperate group.”