By Linus Aleke

The Nigerian Army (NA) has denied the allegation of land grabbing levelled against her by Eesa of Ifon, Chief Babatunde Oyetunji.

Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, in a statement, said, the allegations are false, malicious and an effort to tarnish the good reputation of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), as well as drag the name of the Service to the mud.

Refuting the allegations, Gen. Nwachukwu said: “The Nigerian Army ( NA) has been notified of malicious allegations reportedly peddled in a press statement by one Chief Babatunde Oyetunji, Eesa of Ifon in which he levelled allegations that the Nigerian Army (NA) has decided to forcefully acquire land for a proposed project in Orolu Community of Orolu Local Govt of Osun State. Without mincing words, the NA wishes to clarify, that the report is entirely false, malicious and an effort by some vested interests to tarnish the good reputation of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and drag the name of the institution in the mud.

The fact of the matter is that one of the lines of operations of the NA in tackling security challenges in the country is the None kinetic line of operations; a soft approach, aimed at winning the hearts and minds of the public through the instrumentality of Civil-Military Cooperation activities or programmes of the Nigerian Army”.

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This effort, he said, is fundamentally geared towards fostering cooperation and galvanising support of the civil populace for NA’s diverse operations to mitigate security challenges across the country, stressing that the NA usually executes special community intervention projects, such as hospitals, boreholes, and electrification amongst others based on needs assessment, after consultations with the leadership of such communities, at the behest of senior officers, who hail from the benefiting community.

“In this particular case, a retired senior officer conceptualized an intervention project; a medical centre in Osun state, which has not even been formally forwarded to the Chief of Army staff for approval, since the Department of Civil-Military Affairs at the Army Headquarters is yet to receive requisite information to enable it to initiate a comprehensive proposal for the project.

The Army would not have in any way known which land belongs to HoHoince it is not yet involved in the process. It is only when and if the request of the retired senior officer is forwarded to the Chief of Army Staff and is approved, that the Army can send a team to carry out due diligence on the project site and carry along all stakeholders in the process.

“Surprisingly, if the said project for which the COAS and the NA are being maligned sails through and is approved, it is a project that will benefit the civil populace and serve humanity, irrespective of community affiliation.

The Nigerian Army hereby absolves itself of any involvement in an attempt to confiscate any community land. The Nigerian Army is a professional and law-abiding institution that has always followed due process in all her intervention projects, so far undertaken,” the statement further clarified.

The Nigerian Army, therefore, enjoined the public to discount the allegations and continue to support the Army and its Kinetic and Non-kinetic operations across the country.