The Nigerian Army on Thursday said 95 percent of its troops would be engaged in security duties during the forthcoming general elections.
It added almost 40 percent of the troops to be deployed would be in the Northeast.
Its
Spokesman Brig. Gen. Sani Usman said in a statement that it was not
true that the troops were being paid some allowances in other to sway
their votes for a particular party as being alleged in the social media.
Brig
Gen Usman said: “The attention of the Nigerian Army has been drawn to
some insinuations on various social media platforms that the recent
payment of uniform allowance to officers and soldiers was done to sway
their voting towards a particular political party. This is not true.
“The
payment of uniform allowance was started in 2016 to assist troops
deployed on Operation LAFIYA DOLE as uniform upkeep and maintenance.
“The
allowance was however extended to all Nigerian Army personnel because
of their increasing engagement in various Internal Security Operations
across the country.
“It is important to note that 95 per cent of
Nigerian Army troops will be engaged in security duties during the
forthcoming general elections.
“Out of this, almost 40 per cent
are in the North East. Therefore, it is gross unfair and sheer mischief
to associate the Nigerian Army with such mundane action.
“We
therefore implore all well- meaning Nigerians to dissociate themselves
from such fake and unwarranted information calculated to smear the
Nigerian Army.
“Although investigation is ongoing to ascertain
the source of such malicious allegations, we would like to warn such
unpatriotic individuals to stop this mischief forthwith.
” We
would like to further warn all officers and soldiers to desist from acts
that are inimical to Service discipline and code of conduct and
reiterate the Chief of Army Staff’s warning during his conference with
General Officers Commanding and Operations Commanders that, “All
Nigerian Army personnel must remain neutral, non-partisan and
transparent in all their actions.
“I need to reiterate that there
will be zero-tolerance for any action and in-action by commanders at
all levels that is deemed tilted towards giving undue advantage to any
candidate, political party, ethnic or religious leanings to the
detriment of the unity and integrity of Nigeria.
“The Nigerian
Army has always been professional, impartial and apolitical. We wish to
state that no amount of campaign of calumny against it would change
that”.
Source:- Thenationonlineng
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