This information was provided in a statement that was made public over the weekend and that was signed by Major Adamu Umar, the 7 Division of the Nigerian Army's acting deputy director of army public relations.
In a statement, he said, “The attention of 7 Division Nigerian Army has been drawn to an online malicious and misinforming report published by an online medium (not Prime 9ja Online) on 22 December 2022 against the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 Division Nigerian Army, Major General Waidi Shaibu.
“The Division hereby wishes to state that the report is false, untrue and misleading and will respond to the contents without joining issues with the anti-establishment agent.
“Analysing the contents of the malignant report, it is obvious that the so-called source was spiteful for having missed out on the recent special promotion exercise and the allegations show a smack of ignorance on all issues raised therein.
“Hence the response of the Division will be educative in outlook and align with that of luminary minds like Anthony Kennedy, who posited that the remedy for false speech is a speech that is true while the response to an uninformed article is the enlightened piece and to a straight out lie is a simple truth.
“Firstly, the so-called uninformed source raised the issue of lopsided promotion and special promotion, which according to his limited understanding, do not have any criteria such as trade, courses or date of last promotion. The simple truth is that promotion of soldiers in the Nigerian Army is in line with the Nigerian Army Administrative Policies and Procedures 2015 (Revised) as stipulated in Chapter 7 (pages 31 to 33).
“It is pertinent to state that vacancies are allotted to formations and units by the Army Headquarters Department of Army Administration, and no commander has arbitrary powers to adjust such allocations. Regarding special promotion, the criteria are also contained in the document mentioned above on page 33, para 6 (a-d), which includes Trade Classification, Gallantry, Citation and Establishment. Hence, the special promotion was done transparently with these criteria, and all formations and units under command were directed to abide strictly by the criteria.
“Secondly, the misguided source alleged a lack of drugs at 7 Division Hospital. This is far from the truth, as 7 Division Medical Service and Hospital are well equipped with contemporary medical facilities managed by professional military and civil medical doctors with adequate drugs administered to all patients. Unknown to the unapprised source, the Division has a monitoring and transparent feedback mechanism for ensuring drugs are appropriately administered at the hospital.
“Apart from the detailed log book which documents all patients who report sick and drugs administered to them, a CCTV is also installed at the pharmacy, which records the activities and the dispensing of medications at any point in time. Pertinent to state that the CCTV Camera was recently upgraded to record voice – the HIK Vision Turbo High Definition Audio Camera. In essence, there are measures to monitor and prevent the issues raised in the hospital’s malignant report related to drug administration.
“Thirdly, the false report myopically questioned meetings with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) without realising that there are various lines of effort, including the humanitarian line, in managing complex security challenges such as the ongoing insurgency in the North East, which often requires a whole of society approach.
“Therefore, these international NGOs mostly interface with the military through the Headquarters Theater Command for all their activities. The latest such call on the GOC was the United Nations – Office of the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) Team that came to make a presentation on the planned decongestion of Internally Displaced Persons Camps in DIKWA, GAMBORU, NGALA and BANKI towns.
“The presentation was premised on the need to seek the GOC’s guidance on the security implications of selected sites for the construction of accommodation in the mentioned towns. The Division appreciates the special skills of reputable NGOs and sees them as partners. Therefore, the allegation of the GOC fraternising with NGOs shows smacks of ignorance on the part of the misguided source.
“The allegation of involvement with politicians, to say the least, is absurd and unfounded. The GOC is a seasoned and very professional senior officer in discharging his duties and does not in any way associate himself with the politics of governance. Instead, he is more committed to national security issues as he discharges his duty professionally in line with the mandate of Operation HADIN KAI and the Nigerian Army.
“As part of his routine activities, the GOC frequently visits formations and units under his command to ensure the operational efficiency necessary to achieve maximum security. For the records, it is essential to state that durbar is a Nigerian Army parade mandatory for all formations and units under command to routinely conduct durbar with soldiers once a month and forward the durbar report for the GOC’s perusal and necessary directives. In essence, the misinformed source is unfamiliar with the conduct processes of durbars in the Nigerian Army.
“Finally, the Division wishes to assure the general public that it will continue to respect the high standards for which it is known and will not be sidetracked by dishonest misinformation operations planned by anti-establishment operatives. We therefore urge well-meaning Nigerians to disregard the campaign of calumny and continue to support the Division in its fight against the insurgency in the North East,” Major Umar stated.