Nigerian Army dismisses report alleging supply of inferior armoured vehicles

Following an online report by Military Africa, alleging that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru threatened to blacklist a Chinese firm for the supply of inferior armoured vehicles; the Nigerian Army has come out to dismiss the report as false.

In a statement on Saturday, the Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Yerima said the claims in the report were a figment of the author’s imagination.

He maintained that Attahiru, did not at any time, or in any event, make any comment nor had any interview on the subject matter either with the author or anybody, noting that the story is false, misleading, and a deliberate fabrication allegedly published to serve a yet to be determined motive.

“Whatever the motive is, we consider this publication as not only unprofessional but very unfair to the Chief of Army Staff.

“We demand from the publishers of African Military Blog.com, immediate retraction of the concocted story as it runs against the grain of professional journalism to willfully and wrongfully attribute a story to an unsuspecting party.

“The Nigerian Army recognises and appreciates the indispensable partnership with the media in the quest for a secured, peaceful and progressive Nigeria. It is, therefore, advisable that professionalism must guide the conduct of media practice,” he said.

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Meanwhile, the medium involved has through its’ Tweeter handle @militaryafrica on Saturday, tendered apologies to the Nigerian Army and retracted the story.

“Our attention has been drawn to a particular article written by Ekene Lionel and Titled: Norinco under fire for supplying inferior armoured vehicles to Nigeria.

“We’ll like to tender sincere apologies to those likely to be affected by the article, particularly the gallant troops of the Nigeria Army @HQNigerianArmy.

“After further investigation, we now understand that the article is truly false and inaccurate. With that, the article has been removed,” it said.

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