By Infactng, Abuja
The Nigerian Army (NA) has said it did not shun southern officers in its posting to the Southeast.
An online newspaper, Sahara Reporters had earlier reported that the Army shunned southern officers in favour of northern officers in the posting to quell unrest in the East.
The implications of this is that northern officers, without any affiliations to the region would deal ruthlessly with the people of the region.
But in a statement made available to Infactng in Abuja, the Director Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Mohammed Yerima, the army condemned the report saying it was targeted at steering discord and disunity among peace loving Nigerians.
Yerima: “Ordinarily, the NA would have ignored this illogical narrative by the online media but for the good of members of the public.
“The NA condemn this report targeted at steering discord and disunity among peace loving Nigerians who have refused to be drawn into supporting the senseless attacks on security apparatus in the South East and South South geopolitical zones of the country. The NA being a national body does not promote or post its personnel along ethnic or religious lines.
” Postings in the NA are routine exercises and are based on professional competences not as portrayed by the baseless publication. For the records, let be clear in everyone’s mind that the NA does not train, deploy or operate along ethnic, religious, tribal or regional divides. Senior officers are posted to command units based on their capability and competence taking into consideration their posting history.”
Yerima said the article is poorly scripted and one ” of the dumbest opinions of the writer” also said:
“Part of the poorly scripted article states that NA’s deployment is based on ethical line. This is one of the dumbest opinions of the writer. To put the record straight, while it is true that the General Officer Commanding 82 Division Enugu, Major General Taoreed Lagbaja is from South West, the Commander 34 Brigade Owerri Brigadier General Raymond Utsaha is from the North Central.
“Major General Gold Chibuisi is of the South East extraction and is also the General Officer Commanding 2 Division Ibadan which is the largest in number of states under command including 4 Brigade in Edo State. Equally, Brigadier General Farouk Mijinyawa was never the Commander of 16 Brigade as misrepresented by the writer. It is therefore clear that the concocted story lacks everything in terms of credibility and exists only in the pigment of the author’s imagination.”
The Army Spokesman said some subversive elements have tried to distort security in the South East and the NA had deployed officers to checkmate them.
” The amateurish article presented in a self-styled fictitious movie like scenario devoid of even the basic rudiments of a news report is simply unacceptable.
“The uncoordinated and poorly written article exposes the real intent albeit the very low IQ of the author and that speaks volumes on the motive of the publisher,” Yerima said.
