By Tony Adibe
The General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division of Nigerian Army, Enugu, Major General Umar Musa has said that the insecurity situation in the Southeast is not as bad as being portrayed by the media.
Also, the GOC said that the insecurity situation in the region was more of criminality, a situation in which the gunmen terrorising residents of the Southeast hid under the cloak of Biafra agitation to commit crimes in the region.
Major General Musa spoke when the leadership of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Enugu paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Enugu on Wednesday. He lauded journalists in Enugu State for their assistance in fighting violent crimes through their many reports.
Musa, who recently assumed duty as the new GOC of 82 Division, however, bemoaned the fact that some residents of the Southeast compound security situation in the region by peddling fake news, particularly on the social media.
He said this had portrayed Southeast in a worst light, stressing that peddling fake information created fears, lack of confidence and was negatively affecting the livelihood of the people of the Southeast.
The GOC said: “I have been here for two months, and I can tell you that the situation in Southeast is not as bad as it is being portrayed. If you stay outside, you might think this place is a war zone.
“I know we have some setbacks in some places, but they are not as bad as we read them on social media, and they shouldn’t be used to generalize the entire place.
“Setbacks are part of our work as soldiers. But, because we are trained to be resilient, that’s why we are defeating the criminals in Southeast. Our resilience is winning the war against criminality in Southeast.”
Major General Musa, who promised to partner with journalists and other stakeholders in the region to fight the situation, however charged media practitioners to “always seek clarifications from us before going to town with your report about us and security situation in the state.”
He also called on the residents of the region to stop believing the propaganda being deployed by the criminals to create fear in their minds. Meanwhile, the chairman of the Correspondents’ Chapel of NUJ in Enugu State, Mr. Lawrence Njoku told the GOC that his members were in his office to renew the partnership between the chapel and the army division.
Njoku condemned the menace of fake news as it concerns insecurity especially in the Southeast and called on the GOC to ensure that journalists get unfettered access to credible information as that helps to build more confidence by the citizens.
