The Nigerian Army has distanced its personnel from a viral video on Social Media showing troops clad in green camouflage uniforms invading farms in the South-East and destroying crops.
The Army said the video footage was doctored by secessionists, to denigrate and bring its image intọ disrepute adding that it has subjected the video to credible reverse image and discovered it was first published on YouTube channel “BIAFRA BOY”.
Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, Director of Army Public Relations made this known in a statement on Saturday titled, ‘Disclaimer: Disregard Doctored Video Aimed at Denigrating the NA’.
It reads, “The attention of the Nigerian Army (NA) has been drawn to a doctored video footage released by secessionist sympathisers on Youtube, featuring blurred images of some persons dressed in green camouflage destroying farmland in an undisclosed location, recently.
“In an attempt to denigrate the reputation and image of the NA, authors of the video mischievously attributed the action of the persons to the military by falsely claiming they are soldiers and invariably personnel of the Nigerian Army.
“However, following a fact-finding investigation on the video by subjecting it to credible reverse image, it was discovered that the video was first published on YouTube channel “BIAFRA BOY”.
“The investigation also revealed that the image of the men in green camouflage was deliberately blurred to conceal their identity from viewers.
“Similarly the authors failed to identify the location, community, or Local Government Area the incident occurred.
“Given these facts, it is apparent that the video footage is deliberate propaganda by ESN to bring the reputation and image of the NA to disrepute by portraying personnel of the NA as enemies of the people.
“Members of the general public are please urged to be wary of such negative propaganda materials and subject them to thorough scrutiny.
“We, therefore, urge the public to please discountenance the propaganda video as it is the machination of mischief makers targeting the Nigerian military.
“We reassure the general public that the Nigerian Army will continue to operate professionally regardless of all divisive propaganda.
“We assure all peace-loving Nigerians of our commitment to aid civil authorities in the containment of security challenges in line with constitutional provisions.”