Defence Headquarters has cautioned Nigerians against lending support to the formation of militias in any guise.
The Director of Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, said that once such groups are formed they become difficult to control.
Olukolade said situations where militias turn wild and ambush troops on patrol were unacceptable.
The defence spokesman who spoke during a one-day working visit to the 3 Armoured Division, on Friday said, (They) “not just organise ambushes and kill soldiers, they also abduct them. And then soldiers are found, not just dead, but also mutilated. We should not encourage illegality in the name of promoting militias. We have seen other places where it was started; it becomes difficult to manage.”
Olukolade stopped over at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Plateau State Council Secretariat Friday.
According to him, higher authorities are very much interested in investigating the incident in Wase, judging by pronouncement in the National Assembly and the fact that the incident has generated global attention.
He said that security agencies are interested in ensuring that the nation is secure, adding that all they call for is cooperation. He cited the North East where the military is working with people who have volunteered to support the mission, saying,
“They are under control. They do not constitute another threat to security. And where a militia group chooses to constitute a threat to the security of all, we should not encourage it.”
“When this incident happened, some people decided to syndicate stories that are already biased from their outlook. That is why I say let me not compound it further by giving some elements that controvert what had been syndicated because clearly those stories were syndicated with a view to achieving certain perspectives of the stories, quite often which is not correct,”he said.
“It is not correct that it was a revenge mission. The military authorities will not tolerate or encourage the abuse of the rights of Nigerians. And let it not be imagined anywhere that there is an orchestrated plan to eliminate anybody. The military and security agencies are created essentially to protect Nigerians and they would do that.”
If anything happens that is contrary to what they know to be the norms of the profession,he warned, it will not be condoned or encouraged but will be duly dealt with.”
