The Nigerian Army has maintained that local hunters and local vigilantes under the aegis of Civilian JTF, have never been involved in military operations that culminated in the retaking of Chibok in Borno State, Mubi in Adamawa State, as well as other towns in the North East, that were hitherto overran by Boko Haram elements.
The clarification was made in Abuja yesterday, by the Director of Army Public Relations (DAPR), Brig. Gen Olajide Laleye, during a Pre-Conference media briefing for the 2014 Chief of Army Staff (COAS) annual conference, which is slated to hold in Uyo, the Akwa-Ibom State capital, between December 1 and 6.
This is as the Army, in its determination to reward discipline, commitment and patriotism, has announced the elevation of three “brave” officers leading counter-insurgency operations in the North East.
Speaking against the backdrop of claims that hunters and vigilantes, have contributed substantially to the recovery of many territories in the troubled region, Laleye stated that operations undertaken in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States, have been strictly undertaken by the military.
He noted that the military only involved the local vigilantes, for local and on the spot intelligence gathering.
“Operations undertaken by the Nigerian Army and by extension, the Armed Forces, are purely military operations. If the Civilian JTF are used, they are used purely to get local intelligence and on the spot intelligence. It is absolutely not true that the Nigerian Army, carries out mass burial in mass graves. The Nigerian Army does not bury it’s soldiers without the nextof- kin,” Laleye said.
source: newtelegraph
No comments:
Post a Comment