By Nneka Udeh
General Officer Commanding, 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major -General Hassan Taiwo Dada has commended the media for their roles in National development, especially in promoting the activities of the Nigerian Army, urging practitioners to shun hate speech in discharging their duties.
He gave the commendation /advice, ,Friday, when he received members of the Corporate Online Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists ( NUJ) who paid him courtesy visit in his office in Enugu .
The GOC observed that hate speech brings about hatred and disunity among the citizenry. He said media practitioners should not encourage it in their reportage and programs.
Major- General Dada appreciated the Chapel for commiserating with the Army over the recent killing of Soldiers by alleged ESN members in Abia, state. He disclosed that out of the five Army personnel killed, three were from the South East.
He said the problem we were having in the South East “has nothing to do with agitation or Biafra. What we are having is criminality. Some commanders of agitation groups collect money from people and perpetuate the act. It is criminality. Nobody is fighting for anybody . An average Igbo man wants to wake up and goes to his shop , come back and rest.”, Dada said
He urged Journalists to report against the criminality, saying, ” please , we look up to you to assist the Government , Whatever the agitation of Biafra is not in anybody’ s interest. All the criminals that escape in Owerri jail brake are now Commanders of ESN, collecting money from people, raping women, kidnapping people and harvesting organs,”he said .
Major- General Dada assured Army’s commitment to protection of lives and properties. ” We are here to defend you .
On the auto crash that occurred on Tuesday evening in which some lives were lost and injuries sustained, at the Ugwu Onyeama axis of the Enugu- Onitsha express road, the G.O.C ,commiserated with the families of the diseased. He said they had taken decisions on road blocks, kidnapping.
The General Officer Commanding 82 Division , assured members of the Corporate Online Chapel of partnership
He said the business of security cannot be achieved by one person or one organisation ” It should be a combination of everybody .There cannot be any development without collaboration,” he said.
Earlier, the chairman of the Corporate Online Chapel, Comrade Clinton Umeh, on behalf of chapel members, commiserated with the GOC over the senseless killing of five Soldiers that were killed in Abia state.
He said, “that action does not represent what Igbo people stand for.
According to the Chairman, Corporate Online Chapel is a unit of NUJ that can give the public news at anytime .” We are the most mobile and we are the newest in the NUJ.”
He said they came to seek partnership with the Army.
