The Nigerian Army (NA) on Friday issued a warning notice to its personnel or anyone using social media to engage the authorities on the proposed Army Housing Scheme for soldiers and their families.
In a statement issued and signed by Director Army Public Relations, Brig. General Mohammed Yerima in Abuja, any personnel caught using social media to engage the authorities will be severely dealt with.
He lamented that a scheme meant to benefit soldiers and families could be so fragrantly twisted in the social media, using names and numbers that are alien to the Nigerian Army.
"The motive for this kind of strange act will ultimately be uncovered," Yerima said.
The army spokesman further explained that the referenced story being circulated in social media about the Army Housing scheme is false.
He explained that the signatories who claimed to be writing on behalf of Nigerian Army soldiers are fictitious names and numbers which are non-existent in the Nigerian Army records.
He also added that the current Chief of Army Staff met an Army Housing Scheme in the pipeline and constituted a Committee to understudy its feasibility and desirability. The questionnaire was subsequently designed by the Committee for soldiers to bear their minds on the scheme and to ascertain those who are interested in it.
Yerima revealed that was still at this stage of administering the questionnaire to soldiers that agent provocateurs seized the moment to demonize the scheme with toxic narratives.
Brig. General Mohammed Yerima notes that the Nigerian Army has established mechanisms of responding to administrative issues and resort to social media is not one of them.
