The Defence Headquarters of Nigeria has denied recent claims that terrorists hijacked armoured vehicles and kidnapped over 150 people in Zamfara and Sokoto states. These denials come in response to a series of viral videos that appeared over the weekend, which falsely portrayed these events.
In one of the videos, terrorists were seen celebrating the alleged hijacking of two armoured vehicles from Nigerian troops in Zamfara State. Another video showed terrorists conducting a mass burial for civilians, and a third video claimed that over 150 people had been kidnapped in Sokoto State.
Addressing these claims, the Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, stated that the videos were misleading and not reflective of the actual situation on the ground.
He explained that the armoured vehicles in Zamfara had not been hijacked but had become stuck in a swampy area during a military operation at Kwashabawa Village. The troops were attempting to outflank the terrorists when the vehicles got bogged down due to the terrain made worse by heavy rains.
Buba said, “ On August 29, troops of OP HADARIN DAJI deployed at FOB Zurmi in Zurmi LGA of Zamfara State, embarked on fighting patrol to dislodge terror gathering at Kwashabawa Village. Troops engaged the terrorists en route to the location.
“During the fight, while attempting to outflank the terrorist. Quantity 2 of troops MRAPs got bogged down due to the swampy terrain occasioned by the rain. While troops tried to extricate the MRAPs, the terrorists massed up, knowing the challenge troops had encountered with the MRAPs.”
“Subsequently, troops dismounted and demobilised the MRAPs when efforts to backload them were futile. The sad demobilization of the MRAPs by troops was to prevent it from being useful to the terrorists after abandonment. These situations further illustrate the effect of weather in changing conditions for ground operations.”
“In a related development, the attention of DHQ has been drawn to a trending video propagated from the terrorist camp. The video depicted the killing of several civilians in a mass grave. It must be noted that the incident never took place in Nigeria. Rather, it sadly took place in a nearby African country faced with terrorism.”
“The terrorist, in an act of desperation, tried to manipulate the situation to mislead gullible members of the public. The armed forces unequivocally state that at no time were 150 persons abducted in Gobir (Sokoto State). The rumoured abduction was deliberately planted by the terrorist to undermine troops’ winning efforts and cover up terrorist weakness.”
“On the whole, the public is urged to be circumspect of the antics of the terrorist to propagate misinformation, disinformation and fake news as part of their war propaganda effort. These situations are not uncommon in war.
“The dynamic and ever-changing environment of war creates some of these experiences. Nevertheless, troops retain operational flexibility to make adjustments in achieving the strategic objective of winning the war.”
