Nigerian Army commander tasks journalists on peace-building

Acting General Officer Commanding (GOC), Nigerian Army 7 Division Maiduguri, Brig-Gen Abdulwahab Eyitayo has appealed to journalists to embrace peace-building in the coverage and reportage of the counter-insurgency operation and violence in the northeast.

Gen Eyitayo made the appeal in a remark on Maiduguri on Sunday at a Luncheon he organised for journalists in the state.

He said the media was critical to the success of non-conventional war like the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast. He maintained media practitioners should see themselves as merely reporting developing issues in the military operation and terrorists’ attacks but use their skill and platform to build peace.

“What unites us together is the fact that we are all Nigerians. I feel the synergy of being Nigerians is more than anything,” he declared.

He said the war against Boko Haram has got to a critical stage where some of the insurgents now resort to survival strategy by sneaking into the society for economic gains and escaping into their enclave again. He appealed to journalists to step up reportage of military peace efforts to end the crisis soon.

Spokesman of the division, Col Ado Isa while giving a highlight of the GOC’s remark appealed to Boko Haram men to lay down their arms and embrace peace.

“They should shun violence and come back to join us. They will not be killed, they will be trained and reintegrated into the society,” he disclosed.