The Nigerian Army has released a statement debunking the false reports that it was forcefully carrying out Monkey Pox vaccination on school children in the South East.
The false reports which allegedly came from an as yet unidentified online source had thrown some parents in the South East into panic, with many of them rushing to withdraw their wards from school.
In a statement signed by Col. Sagir Musa, Deputy Director Public Relations, 82 Division Enugu, the army described the social media publication as “silly and mischievous.”
The statement reads in part as thus,
“The attention of the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army has been drawn to a silly and mischievous publication now trending in the social media.
“The publication alleged that the free medical services given to some communities in the South-East are with a sinister motive of depopulating the region through the so-called monkey pox vaccination.
“The Division wishes to make it clear that the free medical outreach is not a vaccine intended to infect monkey pox or any major contemporary or emerging diseases in Nigeria to the people of South-East or any part of the country.
“The exercise is part of the corporate social responsibility initiatives imbued into the overall Exercise EGWU EKE II package for the people of the South-East region.
“It is the area of responsibility of the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army and is also the Theatre of the Exercise,”
According to the statement, the exercise had already been carried out in Nkwa-agu community of Abakaliki Local Government Area of Ebonyi, Ovim in Isoukwato Local Government Area of Abia, Mbaise in Imo, Orji River in Enugu and now Ozubulu in Anambra.
The statement further said “In all the mentioned areas, there has not been any recorded incident or complain of any kind arising from the noble humanitarian gesture of the Nigerian Army.
“The wicked, ill-motivated rumour or lies are the handiwork of unpatriotic elements who can go to any length to discredit the noble services of the Nigerian Army in the region, which at the moment they will not succeed,”
