The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has condemned a political campaign advert by a political party currently airing on several television channels, which it says targets the person and office of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh for denigration.
The DHQ said that advert which makes vile references about Barde’s leadership of the ongoing counter terrorism operation in some parts of the country, is “simply typical of the now very common use of the print, electronic and social media to propagate the campaign of attacking or ridiculing the Nigerian Armed Forces all with the intention of scoring political points.”
In a statement signed by Chris Olukolade, Director, Defence Information, the issues raised in the so-called political advert have already been clarified a couple of times and efforts are currently being channeled towards effective prosecution of the fight against terror with a view to reversing the situation in the areas where the terrorists are showing presence.
“It is therefore unfortunate that a lot of fabrications, exaggeration, misrepresentation of facts and outright falsehood are bring disseminated to achieve this unjust objective of tarnishing the reputation of the leadership and individual officers of the nation’s military, all with the aim of getting at the government of the day.
“It is rather disappointing that some politicians are yet to understand the need to separate sensitive national security issues from their zealous political activities.
“It is, to say the least, very unbecoming of any political party to drag the name and office of a serving Chief of Defence Staff into their political campaigns. This tendency is divisive and aimed at the morale and cohesion in the nation’s Armed Forces.
“Those who are so desperate to drag the military into political campaigns should realise that no political party or politician should hope to benefit from any effort to destroy the fabric of the nation’s military.
The statement emphasised that the Chief of Defence Staff and by extension, the entire personnel of Nigerian military do not belong to or work for any political party rather they work for the overall interest of the nation.
“The DHQ therefore urge politicians to always know when and where to draw the lines and keep the military out of their political machinations,” it said.
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