Army bans UNICEF activities in Northeast over sabotage
The
Army command in Operation Lafiya Dole has banned the activities of
United Nations International Children Emergency Fund(UNICEF) in the
theatre.
In a statement made available to journalists in Maiduguri by Deputy Director Public Relations,
Theatre
Command Col. Onyema Nwachukwu said the army regretted that UNICEF
instead of saving lives has rather engaged in training spies for their
clandestine activities.
The
statement reads in full: "The Theatre Command Operation LAFIYA DOLE has
observed with dismay that some of the activities of International
humanitarian agencies and Non-governmental organizations' operating in
the North East have left so much to be desired. There is credible
information that some of them are indulging in unwholesome practices
that could further jeopardize the fight against terrorism and
insurgency, as they train and deploy spies who support the insurgents
and their sympathizers.
"It
is baffling to note that some of these organizations have been playing
the terrorists' script with the aim to continue demoralizing the troops
who are doing so much to protect the lives of victims of Boko Haram
Terrorism and safe guard them from wanton destruction of property and
means the of livelihood. The Theatre Command considers the actions of
these organizations as a direct assault and insult on the sensibilities
of Nigerians, as they tend to benefit more from expanding the reign of
terror on our people.
"Consequently,
the Theatre Command Operation LAFIYA DOLE is suspending the operations
of the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)
in the North East theatre until further notice. This has become
inevitable since the organization has abdicated its primary duty of
catering for the well-being of children and the vulnerable through
humanitarian activities and now engaged in training selected persons for
clandestine activities to continue sabotaging the counter terrorism and
Counter insurgency efforts of troops through spurious and unconfirmed
allegations bothering on alleged violations of human rights by the
military.
"Information
within the reach of this Command specifically indicates that the
organization commenced the said training on Wednesday 12 December 2018
at the Ministry of Finance Conference Hall, Musa Usman Secretariat,
Maiduguri and ended on 13 Thursday December 2018. The Theatre command
will not tolerate this kind of sabotage from any individual, group of
persons or organization.
"We
call on all NGOs and members of humanitarian agencies to keep to their
legitimate norms in the discharge of their acclaimed humanitarian
duties".
It will be recalled that early this year some staff of UNICEF were declared non
persona grata by the military in the Northeast but later pardoned after
some high level meetings by UNICEF, government and the military.
