by Ranti Joseph

The Defence Headquarters, DHQ has reacted to a political campaign advert by a political party targeting the person and office of Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh.

The Army says that it finds it very disappointing that some politicians are yet to understand the need to separate sensitive national security issues from their zealous political activities.

This was disclosed in a statement signed by Chris Olukolade, Director Defence Information, who stated that vile references were made about Badeh’s leadership of the ongoing counter terrorism operation in some parts of the country.

Olukolade explained that the issues raised in the so-called political advert had already been clarified a couple of times by the DHQ and efforts are currently being channeled towards effective prosecution of the fight against terror with a view to reversing the situation in the areas where the terrorists are showing presence.

“It is therefore unfortunate that a lot of fabrications, exaggeration, misrepresentation of facts and outright falsehood are bring disseminated to achieve this unjust objective of tarnishing the reputation of the leadership and individual officers of the nation’s military, all with the aim of getting at the government of the day,” the statement said.

It further explained that it is unbecoming of any political party to drag the name and office of a serving Chief of Defence Staff into their political campaigns, adding that politicians should note that no political party or politician should hope to benefit from any effort to destroy the fabric of the nation’s military.

“The Chief of Defence Staff and by extension the entire personnel of Nigerian military do not belong to or work for any political party rather they work for the overall interest of the nation. The DHQ therefore urge politicians to always know when and where to draw the lines and keep the military out of their political machinations,” the statement added.

Kolapo Olapoju