The Nigerian Military "unearthes" new smear campaign

The military said it had uncovered a campaign aimed at attracting its international condemnation and indictment of its operations in the northern parts of the country where terror is rife.

“Defence Headquarters has been alerted of a plot by some interest groups to embark on a renewed campaign aimed at attracting international condemnation and indictment of the Nigerian military and its operations in the Northern part of the country,” read a statement the Defence issued in Abuja on Monday.

It added that the campaign would rely heavily on “doctored and falsified audio visual materials, some of which are already trending in the social media is funded by a prominent political leader whose state is presently under the State of Emergency.”

“The details of the plan which is already being fine-tuned by a group of media practitioners, is to be presented for the final ratification and funding by the political figure. The design is expected to forcefully whip up sentiments of genocide allegedly targeted against a particular religious group. The planners of this multi-media crusade also hope to use it to gain some mileage in the drive to secure international attention as they have not achieved this sufficiently despite previous efforts,” the Defence stated.

The military statement said the programme was also meant to reinforce the ongoing media campaign against the military by those who are bent on politicizing the ongoing counter terrorists operations in the northern parts of the country.

“This Headquarters wishes to reiterate its rejection of pictures and video footages from unverifiable sources claiming to reflect activities or so called atrocities purportedly perpetrated by Nigerian security forces. They do not reflect or depict the true state of affairs or operations of Nigerian military or any of the security forces. The public is advised to watch out and not allow themselves to be hoodwinked by these acts of infamy orchestrated by this desperate group.”

The military has encountered mixed fortunes in its fight against Boko Haram insurgents in the north.