The Nigerian Military has announced the suspension of the operations of
the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) from
the North-East.
According to a statement released on Friday by
Onyema Nwachukwu, a Colonel and Deputy Director of Public Relations,
Theatre Command, this was because UNICEF had “abdicated its primary duty
of catering for the wellbeing of children and the vulnerable through
humanitarian activities and now engaged in training selected persons for
clandestine activities to continue sabotaging the counter terrorism and
Counter insurgency efforts of troops through spurious and unconfirmed
allegations bothering on alleged violations of human rights by the
military”.
Mwachukwu said the Theatre command would not tolerate
“this kind of sabotage from any individual, group of persons or
organization”, and urged all NGOs and members of humanitarian agencies
to keep to their legitimate norms in the discharge of their acclaimed
humanitarian duties.
“The Theatre Command Operation LAFIYA DOLE
has observed with dismay that some of the activities of international
humanitarian agencies and non-governmental organisations’ operating in
the North East have left so much to be desired,” read the statement.
“There
is credible information that some of them are indulging in unwholesome
practices that could further jeopardise the fight against terrorism and
insurgency, as they train and deploy spies who support the insurgents
and their sympathisers.
“It is baffling to note that some of
these organizations have been playing the terrorists’ script with the
aim to continue demoralizing the troops who are doing so much to protect
the lives of victims of Boko Haram Terrorism and safe guard them from
wanton destruction of property and means the of livelihood. The Theatre
Command considers the actions of these organizations as a direct assault
and insult on the sensibilities of Nigerians, as they tend to benefit
more from expanding the reign of terror on our people.
“Consequently,
the Theatre Command Operation LAFIYA DOLE is suspending the operations
of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF)
in the North East theatre until further notice.
“This has become
inevitable since the organization has abdicated its primary duty of
catering for the wellbeing of children and the vulnerable through
humanitarian activities and now engaged in training selected persons for
clandestine activities to continue sabotaging the counter-terrorism and
counter-insurgency efforts of troops through spurious and unconfirmed
allegations bothering on alleged violations of human rights by the
military.
“Information within the reach of this Command specifically
indicates that the organization commenced the said training on Wednesday
12 December 2018 at the Ministry of Finance Conference Hall, Musa Usman
Secretariat, Maiduguri and ended on 13 Thursday December 2018. The
Theatre command will not tolerate this kind of sabotage from any
individual, group of persons or organisation.
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