The Nigerian Army debunked the allegation of confiscation of community land for a proposed civil-military intervention project in Orolu Community in Osun.
This was made known in a statement by the Director, Army Public Relations, Brig -Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, on Wednesday in Abuja.
Nwachukwu noted that one Chief Babatunde Oyetunji, Eesa of Ifon, had in a statement alleged that the Nigerian Army had decided to forcefully acquire land for a proposed project in Orolu Community.
He said the allegations were entirely false, malicious and an effort by some vested interests to tarnish the good reputation of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and drag the name of the institution in the mud.
“The fact of the matter is that one of the lines of operations of the Nigerian army in tackling security challenges in the country is the Non-kinetic line of operations.
“It is a soft approach, aimed at winning the hearts and minds of the public through the instrumentality of Civil-Military Cooperation activities or programmes of the Nigerian Army.
“This effort is fundamentally geared towards fostering cooperation and galvanizing support of the civil populace for the army's diverse operations to mitigate security challenges across the country.
However, the Nigerian army usually executes special community intervention projects, such as hospitals, boreholes, electrification amongst others based on needs assessment, after consultations with the leadership of such communities, at the behest of senior officers, who hail from the benefiting community,” he asserted.
In this particular case, Nwachukwu said that a retired senior officer conceptualized an intervention project; a medical center in the state.
Adding that the proposal had not even been formally forwarded to the Chief of Army staff for approval, that the Department of Civil-Military Affairs at the Army Headquarters was yet to receive requisite information to enable it initiate a comprehensive proposal for the project.
