The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has rubbished the criticisms that followed the redeployment of Theatre Commander of Op. LAFIYA DOLE, Maj.-Gen., Olusegun Adeniyi.
HURIWA alleged that saboteurs were out to undermine the current fast-tracked and surgical counter-terror fight being waged by the military.
It claimed that the rumour that the Theatre Commander was transferred as a punishment for openly criticising the lack of fighting weapons in the hands of soldiers waging war against Boko Haram terrorists in the Northeast was unacceptable.
Recall that Femi Fani-Kayode, a former Minister of Aviation had alleged that Gen. Adeniyi was relieved of his duties because he asked for better welfare, weapons and conditions for troops fighting Boko Haram.
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Gen. Adeniyi was replaced by Maj.-Gen. F. Yahaya from Headquarters 1 Division Kaduna as the new Commander of the Theatre Command, Operation LAFIYA DOLE (OPLD) Maiduguri.
Gen. Adeniyi’s redeployment may not be unconnected to a viral video where he was pleading with the government and the Chief of Army Staff to provide weapons for the soldiers in war front to do their jobs.
However, the Nigerian Army had dismissed such claim, stressing that Adeniyi was redeployed as part of its routine aimed at ensuring a better prosecution of the anti-terrorism war.
However, HURIWA wondered why routine and regular exercise of power which President Muhammadu Buhari bestowed on the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai should be viewed as “poisoned binoculars of typical Nigerian partisan politics.”
The frontline rights group stated this in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Emmauel Onwubiko.
Onwubiko cautioned Nigerians against spreading falsehood and propaganda.
The Coordinator lamented that rumour mongers were undermining the fight against insurgency in the North East.
According to Onwubiko, “The most dangerous thing for any Nigerian to do now is to try to spread fake propaganda by any means and to circulate discouraging and indeed outright falsehoods in an attempt to sabotage the works of either the Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai or the military institutions as a whole at these crucial times of our nation’s trajectory and experiences with the axis of evil and the forces of terror determined to undermine the corporate territorial integrity of our nation.
“We are often taken aback when we see Nigerians who are otherwise vastly educated and well travelled begin to manufacture and plant falsehoods and totally destructive information against our brave soldiers and their hard working commanders who are in the frontlines of the battle for the soul of Nigeria and to save our lives from unwarranted terrorist attacks by Boko Haram and other Islamic state affiliates.
“What joy can a citizen of Nigeria derive by running down the military institution just because the person or person or their paymasters are seeking the ouster of the current service chiefs?
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“We are by this media intervention speaking not for the Nigerian Army but we are speaking as patriots and appealing to Nigerians to support the war on terror which is winnable within the shortest possible timeframe but only with our collective endorsements, motivations and supports of our heroic fighters who are making the supreme sacrifices to keep Nigerians safe and to preserve the integrity of our sovereign territory.
“Can we borrow from a slogan that was popularised when then Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Gen. Tunde Idiagbon headed the military administration as it then was in the mid 80’s which goes thus ‘we have no other country to call our own.
“So it is the legal obligation and an ethical mandate of all patriotic citizens to support the military.
“The postings that are made in the military are only routine and not punitive or are they politically instigated.
“This is not the first and may not be the last because the military is constantly on the move in their efforts to serve us better as professional soldiers. The Army is a dynamic institution”.
HURIWA also recalled that the Nigerian Army had consistently updated Nigerians on such postings.