By Emmanuel Nduka
Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Lucky Irabor has revealed that the military and other security agencies constantly come under pressure to compromise during elections through various financial inducements from politicians.
Gen. Irabor who made this revelation on Thursday during the weekly Ministerial briefing, however charged Nigerians to trust in the military as they would not yield, but maintain neutrality during next year’s polls.
The CDS while providing updates of strides made by the military in the fight against insurgency, terrorism and banditry, stated that personnel are being trained to follow the codified rules of engagement before, during and after the elections.
He further revealed that over 300,000 persons have been freed from the hands of abductors since 2016, while refugees who fled the northeast owing to insurgency have started to return.
Irabor debunked a recent allegation by an international news media (Reuters) which accused the military of carrying out over 10,000 illegal abortions on female victims of the war in Nigeria’s Northeast region.
According to him, it is impossible for the military to have been engaged in a planned abortion programme since 2013 and as the military commander in charge of Operation Lafia Dole between 2016 and 2017, he never heard of any such thing.
The CDS added that the efforts of the military in the fight against crude oil theft in the Niger Delta have been yielding positive results with the increase in the crude oil production of 1.6 million barrels per day recently recorded.
