Army Denies Reports Of Soldiers Quitting, Says It’s Fake News

The Nigerian Army has dismissed as fake news, media reports that over 300 of it’s personnel are resigning from the service.

The Army made the rebuttal on its facebook page on Sunday in a screenshot post of one of the media houses, that published the story. It titled it FAKE NEWS.

Some media houses had on Saturday published reports alleging that over 300 soldiers had signified their desire to resign from the force citing ‘loss of interest’ in the job as the major reason.

The army, in an accompanying statement to the screenshot, also described the report as mischievous, designed to dampen the morale of its men.

The statement reads “fake and mischievous news story by supporters of Boko Haram designed to dampen the morale of gallant and patriotic soldiers. The 386 soldiers who left the Army disengaged in a normal routine exercise at the end of their service.

“The Nigerian Army is not in short supply of Nigerians willing to join its ranks. 4,600 patriots recently joined the Nigerian Army of which a large proportion opted to go into the Special Forces fighting terrorism.”

In a similar vein, the Central Force Against Fakenews (CFAF) has also dismissed the reports as the handiwork of terrorists.

CFAF is a group dedicated to fact-checking security issues in Nigeria.

President of CFAF, Aminu Bisku said the group, with the aid of modern tools on information fact- checks has been able to establish that the report was sponsored by terrorist organisations operating in the Northeast to weaken Nigerian troops who in the last three months had put them under intense heat.

He said the claim was a deliberate fabrication by terrorist organisations operating in the Northeast of Nigeria, to dampen the morale of fighting troops.

CFAF President said all the claims in the story could be punctured due to a number of reasons.

One is that 386 persons could not all cite the same reason for leaving an organization.

“People leave organisations for different reasons people view developments differently, but it is almost impossible for hundreds of people to want to leave an organisation for the same reason,” he said.

He noted that for such to happen, then all the 386 personnel must have been put in a classroom and tutored on how to write their retirement letters.

“This is the only way 386 independent-minded persons can arrive at the same conclusion on an issue at the same time,” he stressed. 

His words, “Remember the 386 were not said to have been shortlisted for retirement but were said to have acted on their own, so it would have been difficult to arrive at a round figure as the one in the report.

“It would have been believable if they had said 218 or 341 or any such accidental figures but for a voluntary independent action to stop at a round figure of 386! you know that some people are trying to be mischievous. And because the sponsors of the story have a mindset, that was how they came up with a round figure of 386.”

CFAF also said it was not a coincidence that such propaganda would be released at exactly the same time when the insurgents were being killed in large numbers.

“The timing of the report should make you wonder. Why is it coming at a time when the insurgents are under heat?

“If our troops did not resign when they were going into tactical withdrawal and running to other countries, it would be stupid for anyone to believe that they would resign now that the heat is against the terrorists,” the group stated.