Nigerian Army disclaims Image of Partisan, Brutal Soldiers… vows to deal with culprits

Army disclaims Image of Partisan, Brutal Soldiers… vows to deal with culprits

At the moment, the top echelon of the Nigerian Military seems not to happy due to the obstinate resolve of purveyors of fake news to smear the reputation of the Army through offensive images and videos.

To this end, the Nigerian Army has vowed to launch an investigation to ascertain the authenticity of a viral photograph showing four soldiers raising the four fingers of each of their hands, apparently in solidarity with the campaign sign of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). The Nigerian Army also promised to investigate a trending video of purported soldiers maltreating a man.

The Army bluntly disclosed that those found culpable would face the consequence of their indiscretion.

A picture of four soldiers, a social media hit, has been trending online for some days, giving the impression of a partisan military while another tviral video emerged showing men in military camouflage beating up an undressed man may be fake.

In a press release, the Acting Director of Army Public Relations, Col. Sagir Musa, said: “The attention of the Nigerian Army (NA) has been drawn to a picture of four armed men dressed in what looks like military camouflage in a 4 x 4 finger sign supposedly connoting a campaign symbol of a political party which is against the rules and regulations of the Nigerian Army.

“The Nigerian Army wishes to dissociate itself from the picture even as it has commenced an immediate investigation with the view to ascertain the source and authenticity of the pictures and the “soldiers’ involved. If the outcome of the investigation confirms this to be true, appropriate sanctions would be provided.

“Nigerian Army of today under the command of Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai do not condone or encourage indiscipline and any form of professional misconduct. On many occasions, the Chief of Army Staff has made it strongly clear that Army personnel will remain neutral, totally apolitical and will not compromise its constitutional roles under any guise.”

Speaking on the video, the Army’s spokesperson said the style of camouflage being worn by the soldiers in the video was no longer in use, adding that the men could be impostors.

The statement read, “However, looking at the video closely and carefully, even without or before deliberate investigation is conducted, one can raise salient fundamental common sense observations with regards to the video especially on the three persons that are dressed in camouflage uniform.

“The personnel in some of the trending photo could not be from the Nigerian Army from their dressing pattern, the designs of their camouflage and type of boots that are at variance from the Army uniforms.

“Most of the videos were staged-managed going by the deliberate filming of the said atrocity in broad day light without any fear of sanction.”

By PRNigeria