Fake publication: Nigerian Army warns perpetrators, blames fifth columnists

The Nigerian Army (NA) on Tuesday faulted a publication circulating in the social media purported to have emanated from Nigerian Defence Headquarters, of an impending operation in Benue, Taraba, Plateau and Kogi states.
The Army authorities therefore warned the perpetrators to desist from the act or face the consequences of circulating fake news.
The Army noted that misinformation could do a serious damage to its relationship with the members of the public, as well as aggravate insecurity in the country.
The army authorities said the publication was the deliberate and concerted efforts by some fifth columnists who want to mislead the public by disseminating inaccurate and false.
The Nigerian Army further dismissed the publication describing it as fake.
In a rebuttal statement by the Director of Army Public Relations Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, the Army urged the public to note that the information conveyed in the said document is 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.
The army also noted that,
with “a close scrutiny of the fake press release with a fake Army letter head indicates a non-existent nomenclature in the Armed Forces of Nigerian (AFN), which is “THE NIGERIA DEFENCE HEADQUARTERS ABUJA SECTOR (1) OPERATION WHIRL STROKE” .
The statement stressed,
“Additionally, there is no such appointment as General Operation Commander in the Armed Forces of Nigeria establishments.
“Furthermore, the fake press release was riddled with syntax, grammatical and spelling errors which are not in dissonance with NA Press statements.
“It is important to unequivocally state that the NA, a staunch defender of Nigeria’s sovereignty has over time 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.
“The NA has always sustained the flow of information to the general public whenever the need arises through appropriate media channels.
“Considering the damage that this misinformation could do to the members of the public, the NA wishes to warn all unscrupulous persons or groups employing misinformation to aggravate insecurity in the country to desist from the practice of spreading unauthorized information on behalf of the NA, but join other well-meaning and law-abiding citizens to support the NA in countering terrorism,
insurgency, banditry and other forms of criminality in the country”.