The Nigerian Army high command has described as outright falsehood, a circular purportedly emanating from Nigerian Defence Headquarters (DHQ) of an impending operation to be conducted in Benue, Taraba, Plateau and Kogi States.
The Director, Army Public Relations, Brig-General Onyema Nwachukwu, in a statement, said the information conveyed in the document was “outright falsehood calculated to spread fake news in an effort to create undue tension and undermine the NA in the discharge of its constitutional roles.
“A close scrutiny of the fake press release with a fake Army letterhead indicates a non-existent nomenclature in the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN), which is ‘THE NIGERIA DEFENCE HEADQUARTERS ABUJA SECTOR (1) OPERATION WHIRL STROKE’.”
He added that,, “there is no such appointment as General Operation Commander in the Armed Forces of Nigeria establishments.”
The statement noted further that the Nigeria Army, being a staunch defender of Nigeria’s sovereignty, has overtime maintained robust civil-military relations with the good people of Benue, Taraba, Plateau and Kogi States.
“It is therefore untoward that the mischief makers could attempt to ruin the highly valued relationship with their intent for extra judicial killing in the course of conducting the purported operations,” he added.