The Defence Headquarters has denied allegations by the Secretary General of Jama’atul Nasril Islam, Dr Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, that the military was hiding under the cover of the ongoing counter terrorism campaign to commit extra judicial killings against Muslims and Fulani People.
The Director of Defence Information, Maj.-Gen Chris Olukolade, described the claim of the JNI scribe as both inflammatory and spurious, in an electronic mail on Tuesday.
He maintained that no faith or ethnic group was target of the Special Forces in the ongoing operation in the North East and other parts of the country.
Olukolade said though the military was reluctant to join issues with religious organizations it was inevitable to address the grave allegations by the JNI in order to set the records straight.
Olukolade said the motive behind the allegation was already defeated as the military operations were not fashioned along ethno-religious lines.
The Defence Spokesman said that the allegation coming from a respected religious body like the JNI was unfortunate.
He said that the Nigerian Armed Forces comprised Nigerians from all the religions in the country and could not be used against people of any particular religion.
Olukolade stated further that the military would not be distracted ‘by unfair imputations from any quarter.’
He said, “The statement issued by the Secretary General of Jama’atul Nasril Islam, Dr Khalid Abubakar Aliyu alleging extra-judicial killing of Muslims and people of Fulani ethnic group by the Nigerian military is spurious and inflammatory.
“Much as the military is reluctant to join issues with a respectable religious organisation like JNI, the need to set the records straight makes this response imperative.The Nigerian military remains non-partisan, non-sectarian and will continue to be the symbol of patriotism and a unifying factor in the face of threats to national sovereignty.
“If this wild allegation was meant to cause disaffection or brew disharmony within the military, then it has woefully failed as the Nigerian military does not operate along religious or ethnic lines.”
He called on all responsible organisations in the country to cooperate with the military in the ongoing efforts to address the security challenges facing the country rather than aggravating the situation.
He urged individuals with the biases expressed by the JNI scribe to drop them stressing that the security challenges required the prayer of all Nigerians to overcome it.
No comments:
Post a Comment