The Nigerian Army has urged the public to be wary of negative propaganda against it allegedly by the Eastern Security Network (ESN).
It also urged the public to discountenance the propaganda video by the group, saying it was the machination of mischief makers targeting the Nigerian military.
The Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja.
Nwachukwu alleged that members of secessionist groups, Eastern Security Network, of engaging in negative propaganda to portray the troops in bad light before the public.
Nwachukwu said that secessionist sympathisers had recently released a video on Youtube, featuring blurred images of some persons dressed in green camouflage destroying a farmland in an undisclosed location.
He said the authors of the video mischievously attributed the action of the persons to the military by falsely claiming they were soldiers in an attempt to tarnish the image of Nigerian Army.
According to him, 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 a deliberate propaganda by ESN to bring the reputation and image of the army to disrepute by portraying its personnel as enemies of the people”.
The army spokesman urged members of the public to be wary of such negative propaganda materials by subjecting them to thorough scrutiny.
“We reassure the 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,” he said.
It should be recalled that the group had been accused of launching attacks on security agents and destruction of government facilities in the south-eastern part of the country in recent times.
