The Nigerian army has swiftly moved to debunk the viral report that 83 soldiers are currently missing after being hit by Boko Haram operatives.
Recently, reports emerged that a major attack by Boko Haram operatives in the north-east on a military unit has displaced 89 soldiers who are currently missing.
The Defence Headquarters has hereby played down the news by claiming only 39 soldiers are missing and not 83 as reported by media houses.
While Army spokesman Sani Usman who officially speaks for the Nigerian Army claimed the army could not release true figures of the missing soldiers, a major general several hundred kilometres away said only “39” soldiers are missing according to Premium Times.
Rumours have it that majority of the soldiers who bowed to the superior firepower of the Boko Haram sect could have drowned in the River Yobe while escaping from the terrorist group.
On Wednesday, at two different interactions with the media, Army spokesman Sani Usman, and Lucky Irabor, the Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole in the north-east, issued the different statements to reporters about the number of missing troops.
While Mr. Usman, a colonel, told an online news platform, Pulse Nigeria, that the Army won’t disclose the number of missing soldiers, Mr. Irabor told reporters in Maiduguri that 39 soldiers were missing.
In his interview, Mr. Usman told Pulse Nigeria that the Army issued a statement after the attack, but did not give the number of missing troops.
“We issued a statement of what happened. We did not mention the number of soldiers that were missing.
“Eventually, we went to the theatre of war. But they didn’t bother to ask us that we should tell them the number of soldiers that were missing,” Mr. Usman said.