The Ministry of Defence on Wednesday dismissed a video showing troops of the Nigerian Army purportedly killing some protesters in Zamfara State.

The ministry was reacting to an online publication titled “Shocking video! Army Massacre Protesters Against Killings Zamfara” on elombah.com.

“This is outright false, as no protester was shot, let alone anyone losing his life during the unfortunate protest in Tsafe, Zamfara State yesterday. It is really shocking and utterly ridiculous for any medium to base its story on hearsay and conjectures of a video clip by a renowned serial liar as was the case in the quoted story,” Tukur Gusau, Public Relations Officer to Minister of Defence, Brig.-Gen. Mansur Dan-Alli (rtd.), said.

He said in a statement: “For the avoidance of doubt, the fact of the matter was that, yesterday Monday 24th December 2018, at about 6:35 a.m., the troops deployed at Tsafe Nigerian Army Forward Operating Base (FOB) received a report of protest action by the some suspected Internal Displaced Persons (IDPs) mostly from Asola village in Tsafe Local Government Area (LGA). They were allegedly protesting against the security situation in their areas and lack of care.

“They were initially cautioned by the Emir of Tsafe on the protest action but they were adamant and continued with the protest. They were however joined by youths mostly identified as Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) in the area. The CJTF armed with Dane guns, clubs and other dangerous objects, attempted to attack the Divisional Police Station office, Tsafe, but were stopped by the police on duty. They later moved to the streets, blocking Tsafe-Gusau highway, burning tyres and setting Tsafe LGA Secretariat ablaze.

“In the course of the protest, some vehicles parked at the Secretariat were also burnt. They destroyed Administration offices, files, office equipment and other valuable items. It was in that process that the troops intervened. It is imperative to also state that there was an attempt to also burnt down the residence of the Chairman Tsafe LGA by the protesters, due to timely intervention of our troops, they could not achieve their aim. The troops also arrested one of the protesters, an identified CJTF with a Dane Gun. The suspect and the exhibit have been handed over to the police for further interrogation.

“Indeed, no life was lost and no recorded injuries, it is therefore preposterous for anyone to alleged shooting at the protesters by the troops of the Nigerian Army. Normalcy has since been restored in the affected areas. We enjoin the general public to disregard and ignore such unfounded allegation as it is not true.

“Consequently, we call on the management of elombah.com to retract the unfounded allegations and tender an unreserved apology to the Armed Forces of Nigeria and indeed the Nigerian public for the misleading publication. The Armed Forces of Nigeria wishes to further advise citizens journalists such as elombah.com to show some level responsibility by always cross checking facts of the story before posting such information on their website.

“Once again, the Ministry of Defence wants to assure all Nigerians that the Armed Forces of Nigeria will continue to discharge its constitutional roles irrespective of attempts by some unpatriotic elements to distract it.”