SaharaReporters is reporting that, Major General AC Olukolade,
the Director Defence Information at Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters (DHQ), on
Friday denied our report, “Second Mutiny in Maimalari Barracks as Soldiers
Manhandled Commander.”
In the story, which SaharaReporters
confidently stands by, we reported that Brigadier General M.Y. Ibrahim, the new
General Officer Commanding the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army located
in Mamalari Barracks in Maiduguri was at the receiving end of the fury of
soldiers who stormed his office yesterday Thursday afternoon demanding that he
pay their allowances and reinstate motorbikes to transport them and members of
their families within the barracks.
Our story further stated that some
of the soldiers fired shots into the air, and rough-handled him to enable him
experience life walking around the barracks.
“What the online outlet garnished
and dubbed as ‘mutiny’ was just a presentation of complaints by representatives
of personnel families who wanted the ban on motorcycles as a means of public
transportation in the barracks reversed,” General Olukolade responded in a
statement today, adding that soldiers were not involved and no single shot
fired by them throughout the period.
The general described the ban as
part of security measures put in place for the safety of the soldiers and their
families, and that the Acting General Officer Commanding obliged their request
and directed a suspension of the ban pending when the planned alternative
transportation arrangement is put in place. According to the spokesman, the
commanding officer was neither insulted nor manhandled.
“The imputation of mutiny was
concocted by the online medium ostensibly to raise false alarm and create the
impression of disquiet in the military. It is very obvious that a section
of the media is feasting on the current security challenges and is desperate to
sustain the tempo of the crisis through sensational reportage. Mutiny is
a very grievous breach that attracts severe sanctions in the military and
should not be trivialized by those who do not understand its ramifications,”
the statement said.
He urged the general public
to discountenance the rumours, and advised the mass media to beware of lifting
stories on the military from online media because, according to him, “this has
become the main channel of disseminating falsehood on happenings in the
system.”
In a separate story, General
Olukolade announced the discovery in Dorayi District in Kumbotso Local
Government Area of Kano State, of a Rocket Launcher production facility.
He said the discovery, during a cordon and search exercise, followed the arrest
of a prominent member of “the terrorists group,” presumably Boko Haram.
“Locally made Anti-Aircraft Gun and
Mortar accessories as well as Rocket Propelled Grenade tubes and Launcher along
with accessories were recovered,” the statement said, along with three AK47
rifles, hundreds of rounds of assorted ammunitions, drilling machines and other
fabricating equipment.
He again urged the public to report
suspicious persons to security agencies in their localities in order to prevent
unwholesome act by terrorists.
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