Skip to main content

Buratai meets journalists, seeks improved media relations in fight against Boko haram

Tukur Buratai


                                             
The Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, on Saturday called on the media to support the military to defeat Boko Haram.
Mr Buratai made the call during a dinner and interactive session organised for editors and defence correspondents in Maiduguri.
He said the call was imperative to check the spate of terrorists’ propaganda inimical to the successful implementation of the counter insurgency campaign.
Mr Buratai said terrorists had thrived on publicity to misinform the public, instill fear in the mind of the people and demoralise troops.
He lamented the spate of “campaign of calumny” against the military through social media platform by some organisations at the detriment of national security.
Mr Buratai described the allegations of human rights abuses against the military by Amnesty International, lack of equipment and nonpayment allowances to troops as misleading.
“The war against terrorism should be a collective responsibility for all, and not just a war between the army and the terrorist group.
“The war needs to be reported as it is, and enlighten the people to understand the situation and support the military,” he said.
Mr Buratai said the impact of the terrorists propaganda was one of the major challenges facing the military.
Mr Buratai said the dinner was organised to mark the beginning of a new page of military-media relation.
The army chief lauded the media for its effective reportage of the campaign against insurgency, restoration of peace in the Northeast and protection of life and properties in the country.
According to him, the military authorities have established a human rights desk to promote civil military relationship and enhance justice system as well as reorganise various divisions.
Mr Buratai said the military authorities had rehabilitated offices, house and office accommodation, clinics, equipment and initiated various programmes for the improvement of the troops’ welfare.
He reiterated the commitment of the Nigerian Army to remain disciplined, professional and apolitical in the discharge of its constitutional mandate.
The army, he said, would do its best to end the insurgency, restore peace to the northeast, enhance security and protect the national territorial integrity.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the dinner was attended by Maj.-Gen. Lamidi Adeosun, the Head of Military Training and Operations; Maj.- Gen. Benson Akinroliyo, The Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole and Brig.- Gen. Bulama Biu, Acting General Officer Commanding 7 Division, and other senior military officers.
Others were some representatives of UN agencies, Nigerian Guild of Editors and Nigerian Institute of Public Relation Practitioners.
(NAN)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Killings: Group demands resignation of Police IG

                              A human rights group, National Intervention Group of Nigeria, has called for the resignation of the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, for alleged loss of morality to continue in office given his inability to tackle killings across the country. The convener of the group, Segun Akinloye, made this call on Tuesday at a press conference in Abuja on the state of the nation. Mr Akinloye said “the lives of Nigerians, even in Nigeria appears nowadays to be cheaper and more worthless than ever before witnessed or recorded in history.” He frowned at the powerlessness of the police to abate the killings, warning that Nigeria may be heading to division and eventual collapse if urgent steps are not taken. He made reference to the killings in Southern Kaduna, Benue, Taraba, Kogi, Plateau and Kaduna St...

Kano Hisbah Board destroys 30 trailer loads of beer worth N150 m

                                   The Kano State Hisbah Board has seized and destroyed 30 trailer loads of beer worth N150 million. In a statement released on Tuesday December 25th, the board’s Public Relations Officer, Adamu Yahaya, said that the cartons of beer were destroyed on Monday evening December 24th after interception at Kalebawa on Danbata Road in Dawakin Tofa area. “The Kano State Law No. 4 of 2004 has banned the manufacture and use of intoxicants in the state. Furthermore, an order was given by a magistrates’ court for us  to go ahead with the exercise,” the public relations officer said. The worth of a trailer load of beer is between N5.2 million and N5.5 million. The sale of beer and its consumption has been banned in Kano state.

Girl, 16, is gang-raped by four men and dumped to slowly die on building site

  A schoolgirl was allegedly gang-raped and killed by four migrants who dumped her on a building site and left her to die.   Desiree Mariottini, 16, from Cisterna di Latina, Italy, was found dead after being drugged and raped in the construction site in the district of San Lorenzo in October 2018.   A witness claims that the 16-year-old girl went to the abandoned site used by homeless people to buy drugs from the four men.     Narcisa Leon, an Ecuadorian woman who squatted in the abandoned site, told the court that she found the victim lying motionless on a dirty mattress.   She had seen the schoolgirl with the four defendants earlier in the day.     She also said that one of the suspects, Mamadou Gara, confirmed in a conversation with her that they had given the victim a strong tranquiliser and that he had then had "sex with her".   The case is ongoing.   The four men, Yusif Salia, Mamadou Gara, Brian Minteh, and Chima Alinno, are ...