Colonel Rabi Abubakar, the Acting Director of Defense Information, has said that some media reports on the activities of the Islamic terror group, Boko Haram promotes the operation of the insurgents in North East, Nigeria.
New spokesman of the Defence Headquarters, Colonel Abubakar
He disclosed this while on a courtesy visit to the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of information.
Abubakar expressed worry over what he called undue patronage been given to the insurgents by the media.
According to Vanguard, he maintained that such publicity encourages the terrorists and makes them extremely proactive in their deadly operations.
He said: ‘‘We have realized that overtime, these terrorists have been extremely proactive with the use of information dissemination. As such, we need to counter all they are doing. That is why we are calling on the media houses to stop giving them the kind of publicity they are giving them because that is what keeps them going. I think, by the time they are denied such publicity they are enjoying in the media, they will lose strength.”
Colonel Abubakar also said with the new leadership in place, the military are having a new paradigm shift on how information could be collated, disseminated, taking cognizance of national security interest, the interest of their personnel who are in the war front.
He called on media practitioners to be patriotic in reporting terrorism, urging them to crosscheck their facts with the military before going to the press, promising to be open and truthful to them at all time.
‘‘We are not hiding anything, we are all Nigerians. With what we have now, it is a matter of time, the issue of Boko Haram will be history,’’ he added.
Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, the Permanent Secretary, in her response, said the visit marked the beginning of a very good working relationship between the Defense headquarters and the ministry.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian army has disclosed that it has arrested two key members of Boko Haram in Geidam, Yobe state during a military operation in the region.
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