By Adenike Lucas
The Nigerian Army has accused a news website, The Premium Times Service Limited, of publishing false reports again.
The online publication claimed in an exclusive report that the Nigerian Army was planning to remove the President of Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, if he fails to step down after the expiration of his tenure this month.
The report written by the Editor, Muskilu Mojeed, claimed that a “battalion, christened ECOMOG NIBATT 1, was drawn from the army’s 19th Battalion based in Okitipupa, Ondo State.”
Mr Mojeed who attributes this information to an unknown source alleges that the “army battalion would be deployed in troubled Gambia to forcefully remove President Yahya Jammeh from power if he fails to step down on January, 19.”
This was immediately refuted by a spokesperson for the Nigerian Army, who said, he “wished to disassociate itself from such false information that exists only in the figment of the imagination of the medium [Premium Times].
The Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Sani K. Usman stated in the press release that “there was not a time or place when the Nigerian Army disclosed such information to the medium.”
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Nigerian Army is not planning to attack any country,” he said.
“The medium is please requested to always clarify such matters affecting national security and diplomatic issues that may endanger the safety and security of Nigerians abroad to avoid such a misleading and embarrassing publication,” he added.
The Nigerian army was forced to institute a legal action against the Premium Times this week, over what it called “false, libellous and malicious stories” against the person of Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai and the Nigerian Army.
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