Insurgency: Northeast residents berate social media handlers for recycling fake news

By Lawrence Audu

Following the circulation of an old story published in 2015 by some social media handlers alleging that the Nigerian Army has been absent in the fight against Boko Haram and that it is the Chadian Army alone that is battling the insurgents, some of the residents in the North-east have reacted to the issues describing it as “an attempt to demoralize the Nigerian troops.’’

A cross section of the residents who spoke to our correspondents in Borno, Gombe and Bauchi states on Wednesday said issues of security remains a very sensitive matter which must not be politicized, trivialized or peddled as fake news.

Alhaji Idrissa Babakura, a resident of Maiduguri said Nigeria supports Chadian forces in routing Boko Haram and President Idriss Déby of Chad has revealed that the Nigerian government supported his country’s Military onslaught against Boko Haram.

Deby who has relocated from Ndjamena to Baga Sola in the Lac Region said Nigeria provided “fairly substantial equipment,” in support of Operation Anger of Bohoma. The Chadian leader spoke on Monday when a parliamentary delegation made up of the ruling party and the opposition visited him in Ndjamena.

Malam Ibrahim Kawu, a rice farmer from Dadin-Kowa in Gombe state said it is discouraging for anyone to share fake story when there are successes in the fight against insurgency.

“Before 2015, we know how we were living and how we now live. The difference is clear and the army under Lt. Gen. Yusuf Buratai has done a good job. You cannot be online and be circulating nonsense just for motives that we don’t understand.

“We are on ground and we felt the heat of insurgency but today we owe our peace to the Army. We do our farming activities without any fear or intimidation,’’ he said.

Alhaji Mohammed Usman, a civil servant from Bauchi said: “We have to be fair to the Army. They have done a fine job from 2015 and whatever story or stories being circulated should not be used to demoralise our security agents.

“This is because it has a way of discouraging the Army who has really done well for all of us. The peace that we now enjoy must be sustained through massive support for the troops who are at the frontline of these battles.

Usman said government must initiate punitive measures to ensure that anyone who uses the social media or any platform to circulate fake news is punished to send a strong message to others.

“This is a threat to our collective existence as a nation. Fake news for any purpose must be discouraged and fought to a standstill.

Hajiyah Aishatu Idris, a resident of Nafada, one of the border towns in Gombe said though there is still work to be done in the Northeast “There should be no denial of the successes being recorded in the fight against insurgents.

“The army has done a lot and today Gombe state is safe and we are grateful to Allah. We must continue to pray for the Army and its current leadership for being professional, patriotic and committed to sustaining peace.”