BY  Soni Daniel

Abuja—The Nigerian military has denied allegations of rights abuse by soldiers in the course of fighting terrorism in parts of the Northeast.

Nigeria Army

Director of Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, who made the clarification, yesterday, insisted that allegations of human rights abuses being levied against troops combating terrorism in the North Eastern parts of the country were false and baseless.

Olukolade said: “The position of the Nigerian armed forces and security agencies is guided by rules of engagement, which we will continue to abide by. Accusations of human rights abuse will be investigated whenever it is believed to have occurred.

“However, I must call your attention to the fact that this has become a stock in trade of organisations that have doubt about our ability to maintain integrity in our operations but be sure that this remains a professional force.
“We are conducting our activities in the most professional manner and we will stand by it. Please note that the obligation we have is to investigate it and when such allegations come, we do investigate them.”

Olukolade spoke during the thrice weekly briefing by the National Information Centre, NIC.
Olukolade, who disclosed that some troops lost their lives in the bomb explosion at a market in Maiduguri on Tuesday, insisted that members of the Nigerian military and other security agencies would continue to defend the nation even at the point of death.

He denied insinuations that residents at the scene of the Maiduguri blast attacked the military and fire fighters saying “we just know that our men did their job on that spot. In fact we lost soldiers in the process, but be sure that the military and other security agencies will continue to do their duty and I don’t have a report of anybody being denied the right to execute their mandate as a security agent in that area.”

Coordinator of NIC, Mr. Mike Omeri, had earlier clarified the report about the explosion which occurred in Ile-Ife, Osun State on Tuesday.
According to Omeri, what happened was a non-lethal explosion from an object which was investigated by security agencies at Agbedegbede Street, Ile-Ife, Osun state.

He said that the outcome of the investigation indicated that the explosion was neither a bomb nor dynamite, but carbide, which did not affect the ground where the explosion occurred and the building within the vicinity while no human life was lost.