Army dismisses report of impending operations in four states as fake.

On Tuesday, the Nigerian Army debunked reports of an upcoming operation in the states of Benue, Taraba, Plateau, and Kogi.

The bogus news story claimed to have come straight from Abuja’s Defence Ministry.

Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, the Army’s Director of people Relations, said in Abuja that the bogus publication was the work of some “fifth columnists” who were intentionally misleading the people.

Nwachukwu emphasised that everything in the document was completely fabricated in order to sow discord and discredit the Nigerian military.

He claims that an examination of the press release sent under a fictitious army letterhead reveals a naming scheme that does not exist inside the Nigerian military: “The Nigeria Defence Headquarters Abuja Sector (1) Operation Whirl Stroke.”

“Additionally, there is no such position as ‘General Operation Commander’ in the Nigerian Armed Forces.

The syntax, grammatical, and typographical issues in the phoney press statement were inconsistent with the language used by the Nigerian Army, he added.

Nwachukwu continued by saying that the Nigerian Army had developed strong civil-military ties with the citizens of Benue, Taraba, Plateau, and Kogi because they were all committed to protecting Nigeria’s independence.

He added that it was unacceptable for troublemakers to risk damaging the precious alliance in pursuit of extrajudicial killing while ostensibly carrying out legitimate activities.

He claims that whenever necessary, the Nigerian Army has kept the people informed via the right media outlets.

“The Army wants to warn any unscrupulous individuals or organisations that are using disinformation to further exacerbate insecurity in the country to stop immediately,” the statement reads.

“They should rather join other well-meaning and law-abiding citizens to support the Nigerian Army in countering terrorism, insurgency, banditry, and other forms of criminality in the country,” Nwachukwu emphasised.