Director of Defence Information,
Defence Headquarters, Abuja, Maj.
Gen. Chris Olukolade, has said that
he is facing difficulties and frustration
on his job as the military spokesman.
Olukolade, who described the present
phase of the ongoing war against
Boko Haram insurgents as a “trying
period,” accused some unnamed
journalists and security analysts of
giving him tough times.
Lamenting his frustration on Twitter
on Thursday, the defence spokesman
claimed that managing the
information portfolio of the armed
forces has come with a lot of “pains”
as many security analysts and
journalists falsely attribute to him
military pronouncements that never
emanated from his office.
He explained that it was “depressing”
for him to watch and learn on a
Lagos-based television station on
Thursday morning, that he denied the
re-designation of Gwoza, a town in
Borno State, as an Islamic Caliphate
by the Boko Haram leader, Abubakar
Shekau.
According to him, rather than make
comments on the takeover or
otherwise of Gwoza he had simply
insisted that the territorial integrity of
Nigeria was intact.
He said, “One major source of pain
and frustration with regards to
information management in this
trying period borders on journalists
and analysts, attributing to me or the
military, pronouncements that never
emanated from us with a view to
enriching their stories and pointing at
non-existent contradictions.
“Quite often, this is done to discredit
us or to challenge our personal and
corporate integrity and indict the
military. For instance, I purposely
refrained from saying anything about
the presence of the terrorists in
Gwoza and Damboa, other than
assuring Nigerians that we will not
concede any portion of Nigeria to
terrorists.
“I also said their (Boko Haram’s)
claims over territories are empty. I
then wonder why analysts insist I
denied that terrorists were in Gwoza.
Hearing it repeated on television this
morning (Thursday) is indeed so
depressing.”
Wondering if some Nigerians were
being misled by fraudsters operating
bogus social media accounts in his
name, Olukolade stated that the only
social networking site he makes use
of is Twitter.
Soliciting support for the members of
the armed forces in the war against
terrorism, Olukolade listed the official
digital media channels of all the
military services, and asked
Nigerians to discountenance any
information that cannot be verified on
such platforms.
Warning that he does not operate a
Facebook page, Olukolade explained
that his Twitter handle, @
GenOlukolade , is the only online
channel he deploys in engaging with
and updating Nigerians on details of
the war against insurgency.
“I am not on Facebook or any other
social network other than Twitter – @
GENOlukolade . Please, pay attention.
The Defence Headquarters’ official
Twitter handle is @DefenceINFONG ,
while the DHQ blogs at
defenceinfo.mil.ng.
“The Nigerian Navy tweets @
NigerianNavy with a blog presence on
navy.mil.ng. The Army and Airforce
blog respectively at army.mil.ng and
airforce.mil.ng ,” Olukolade added on
Twitter.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Salkida, the
Maiduguri, Borno State-born
journalist widely reported to have
strong ties with the Boko Haram, has
said that it would be difficult for the
Federal Government to negotiate an
end to insurgency, with the terrorist
group.
The 40-year-old freelance journalist,
who had since relocated to the United
Arab Emirates, argued that what
Nigeria needed was a “professional
military” that would successfully
quell the insurgency.
“It will be more difficult to negotiate
with Boko Haram today. Nigeria
needs to move to a position of
strength from that of weakness to
even do that. When you are talking
from the position of strength and not
weakness as it is, it’s likely you can
determine the outcome of any
negotiations.
“Mistakes were repeatedly made that
emboldened Boko Haram to be
ambitious. However, today’s biggest
challenge is beyond the release of
prisoners and compensations. The
way out of this crisis is to improve
our military, since negotiations have
eluded us. A military solution by a
professional army is crucial.”
The reporter, who now works as an
import and export agent of
agricultural products and textile
materials, insisted that Boko Haram
insurgency was beyond politics.
Advocating a “deep and sustained”
bipartisan strategy to resolving the
security crisis, he expressed sadness
that there had not been an accurate
assessment of the insurgency by the
service chiefs and political leaders.
“The All Progressives Congress and
the Peoples Democratic Party should
please play politics with anything but
not with lives. None of you can
sponsor Boko Haram as evident in
your inability to even manage your
parties well.
“The sooner we get rid of our pride,
arrogance and hate, and properly
diagnose the crisis, the sooner we
can find solutions. For God’s sake
GEJ (President Goodluck Jonathan)
doesn’t need to feed an insurgency
that kills and maim thousands of
Nigerians just to remain the
President,” Salkida added.

If only the journalists will listen.

i sorry 4 d General sha

bt he shld take it in goodfaith its one of d challenges of d job

You don't need to tell lies to Nigerians mr spokesperson. Nigeria is a democratic state not a military base.

That's journalism for you. Am sure its same everywhere. Always banking on the people's thirst for blood. Nobody here verifies any stories again unless the story is against their political party. Once its an article that will ridicule the opposition then it must be true. Shame.