Army reacts to photo captions on arms allegedly seized from Shi’ite members

PIC 26. GOC, 1DIV. NIGERIA ARMY, MAJ.-GEN. ADENIYI OYEBADE (R) INSPECTING SOME WEAPONS SEIZED FROM MEMBERS OF ISLAMIC MOVEMENT IN KADUNA ON WEDNESDAY (6/1/16) 0116/6/1/2016/SP/ICE/NAN

The 1 Division Headquarters of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna has refuted photo captions on some national dailies, which quoted the General Officer Commanding (GOC), Major General Adeniyi Oyebade as saying that the arms and ammunitions displayed by the division were seized from members of the Shi’ite group.

A statement by the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, Colonel Usman Abdul said the Ammunitions/Weapons displayed were recovered from armed bandits, criminals and cattle rustlers that have been terrorizing innocent civil populace within the North West Zone and not from the members of the Shi’ite sect as reported‎.

“The attention of Headquarters 1 Division Nigerian Army has been drown to the publication, particularly on the photograph that was displayed during the GOC 1 Division press briefing with members of the media in Kaduna on Wednesday 6 January 2016.

“We wish to state categorically that all the Ammunitions/Weapons and other dangerous weapons displayed were recovered from armed bandits, criminals and cattle rustlers that have been terrorizing innocent civil populace within the North West Zone and not from the members of the Shiite sect as reported.

“The issue of the clash between the Nigerian Army troops and members of the Shiite sect was not the main issue of the briefing but was only mentioned to reiterate the position of the Nigerian Army on the matter. All sort of weapons recovered specifically from the Shiite sect have been handed over the Police authority few days after the incident,” he said.

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