Nigerian Military Refutes Allegations By Transparency International

The Nigerian military has refuted allegations made against the military by Transparency International.

The Director of Defence Information at Defence Headquarter (DHQ), Major General John Enenche, refuted the allegations while briefing journalists at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja.

Enenche said that the allegations were false and therefore, should be disregarded by Nigerians and the international community.

He said the present leadership of the Armed Forces had done a lot to train, boost troops morale and procure vital equipment through due process for operations against insurgents in the North-East and other operations.

He said the DHQ, Army, Nigerian Navy (NN), Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Headquarters had established procurement branches that were guided by the rules and regulations of the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP).

He said even the Ministry of Defence was dealing directly with states and governments on Defence equipment procurement without using contractors or vendors any longer.

“On this note, it is suspicious that a sweeping statement of corruption against the military officials at this time is rather disheartening.

“More so, that the Nigerian Military was on March 22 credited by the United States of America (USA) as having done very well for fighting insurgency and extremism, among others.

“Such an allegation came at the peak of consistent success being recorded in our areas of operational engagements, especially in the North-East,’’ Enenche said.

The director of defence information explained further that the military operations in the North-East was very obvious not only to Nigerians, but the whole world, hence the allegation must be treated with utmost suspicion.

“The DHQ is therefore, assuring the general public that there is no calculated, deliberate or institutionalised corruption in any form within its system.

“The Armed Forces of Nigeria remained focus and committed to providing security to lives and property and totally loyal and subordinated to the Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,’’ he said.

Enenche urged Nigerians to continue to provide useful information to the military and other security agencies to enable them to finally clear terrorism and other security challenges from the country.