The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has debunked claims in a video being circulated in the social media regarding the counter-terrorism troops trained in Pakistan recently.

In a statement issued on Friday in Abuja by the Director of Defence information, Major General EJ Enenche, the DHQ stated that a voice clip in one of the major languages of the country has been in circulation on the social media with the informer claiming “to be in Pakistan where he saw about 1000 Nigerian troops selected from a particular region in Nigeria graduating after their special training, with the directive to come back home to kill Nigerians of a particular tribe.”

The DHQ described the information as “inciting, untrue and unverified lie against the Armed Forces of Nigeria, targeted as discrediting the capacity building effort of the Military.”

It also said: “Operationally, the Armed Forces of Nigeria is poised on building its capacity to meet the contemporary security challenges in the country. This is being done with other countries with similar security challenges of which Pakistan is one, hence, the collaboration with Pakistan for the training of additional counter terrorist troops in addition to own local training efforts.

“It is instructive to clearly state that the Nigerian troops that trained as a unit on counter terrorism in Pakistan were drawn from the Nigerian Army, Navy and Air Force, in line with the concept of the force generation. The personnel cut across all the religions as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution. All the geopolitical zones and major tribes in Nigeria are represented in the composition of the unit, as usual with the Nigerian Military. It is not an isolated training programme but an existing and continuous exercise.

“The Defence Headquarters therefore, reassures all Nigerians that, the Armed Forces of Nigeria is non sectional, regional or tribal. The military is ever ready to protect the lives and property of all in the country, hence, the ill motivated voice clip should be disregarded.”

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