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Army partner social media operators to curb crime

Army partner social media operators to curb crime

By Tola Gbadamosi
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The Nigeria Army has called on social media operators to support its campaigns in curbing crimes and security challenges in the country.

Chief of Civil-Military Affairs, Army Headquarters, Maj. Gen. Usman Muhammad, who represented Lieutenant General T.Y Buratai, made the call in an interview with The Hope Metro  at the just concluded 9th edition of the one-day interactive session on Civil-Military Relations, in Akure.

The session with the theme, “The Evolving Role of the Social Media in Support of the Nigerian Army’s Non-Kinetic Line of Operations,” was organised by the Army Headquarters in partnership with Security Affairs Limited.

Muhammed said the seminar was to sensitise the general public on the need to be mindful of spreading information promptly.

He stressed that the social media operators should spread accurate information, saying the role of the Army is not only to protect the nation, but also to promote good relationship among the citizens.

The Army boss said, “If you spread the right information, the outcome is that insecurity will be reduced to the barest minimum. But, if you spread the wrong information or you twist information the way you want by spreading fake news, the tendency is that you are likely to spread information that may undermine the security of the country.”

He appealed to the media and Nigerians to support the activities of the army, especially in this period when the nation was facing series of security challenges.

”We are not necessarily saying that you must support the military, but be objective; get the correct information, analyse correctly and spread it correctly in a right way,” he said.

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Special Assistant to the Ondo State Governor on News Media, Mr Olabode Richard, advised that people should not ‘weaponised’ the social media by using it to spread wrong information.

His words, ”Such acts could escalate to war. Everyone should join hands with the Military to stop the spread of fake news now before it kills the integrity of our beloved country, Nigeria.

Mr Austin Peacemaker, the Executive Director of Security Affairs Limited, security outfit partnered with the army because whatever happened online could either promote security or derail the peace in the country.

“We have seen scenarios where the people would take pictures from war zones like Liberia, attached it and claimed it was the killing of soldiers in the North east or Christians were killing Muslims in the East.

”Whatever we are doing online, I think we should learn to put our national security first, because other countries are judging us by what they read on our social media platforms,” he said.

The seminar was well attended by various groups which include the National Council of Women Society (NCWS).

The NCWS representative, Mrs Jayeola Adunni told The Hope Metro that it is  a good development that would stop the spread of fake news in our society today.

 “We strongly disagree with fake news by fake bloggers as we know it could course war in a nation as we should abstain from such unlawful social media act,” she added.

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