The Nigerian Army, Saturday, disclosed its role during the Sit-at-Home directives observed across the South-East and beyond on the orders of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB.
In a detailed statement issued by Colonel Sagir Musa, the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, 82 Division, he said the Army exhibited a high sense of professionalism through which it escaped a trap set by the Biafra groups and some of their international collaborators.
“Between the 27 – 30 May 2017, there seems to be a dramatic increase in the number of phone calls the 82 Division Army Public Relations Department received from all manners of journalists – conventional reporters, freelancers, the online and social media activists. Though dogged and inquisitive, yet, the traditional reporters appeared, as usual, more refined and professional than the bloggers and other social media elements who mostly – “the Cult of the Amateurs” are regularly sounding vociferous and uncouth in their inquiries.
“It was all about the MASSOB/IPOB’s Sit – At – Home Order and how they (MASSOB/IPOB members) planned to enforce the order in the South East (SE) using propaganda, intimidation, harassment and brute force as tactics, and the constitutional duty of security agencies to ensure peace, security and the protection of human rights.
“It was about the probable/impending confrontation between MASSOB/IPOB members and the security agencies. The assumption was much, and the apprehension was palpable in the SE if not the entire nation.
“Fundamentally, some journalists and indeed the public wish to know, – how, – what miracle the security agencies/Nigerian Army (NA) used to manage the security threats, that was obvious – on the 27 – 30 May 2017?
“Similarly, in view of the plans and intrigues to lure or provoke the NA into confrontation with MASSOB/IPOB, and the organized propaganda campaigns to discredit the NA (should there be a clash), journalists were curious to know how the army was able to extricate itself from the “MASSOB/IPOB’s trap”.
“Instructively, the grand machination to inveigle and embarrass the NA and other security agencies in the build up to Sit – At – Home Order became manifest on 18 and 19 May 2017, when there was deliberate but unusual presence of IPOB women wing in Abiriba Stadium, – all dressed in Biafran T-Shirts, exhibited Biafran flags, banners and other insignia.
“The subsequent “drama of unclothedness” and the comical allegation of rights infractions by IPOB’s propagandists against the soldiers on patrol in Abiriba further buttressed the point. Likewise, when
