Delta State Government says the trending video clips of soldiers openly threatening to rape Warri women and girls, is fake.
Soldiers issued the threat in a video footage after their colleague was allegedly killed by residents in retaliation of the murder of Joseph Pessu on Thursday amid the COVID-19 lockdown.
“We will rape your women and give them HIV”, one of the personnel declared while protesting the death of a fellow soldier.
But Delta State Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu, in a statement on Friday insisted that the clip was concocted.
He noted that it was created by disgruntled elements bent on pitching the people against the State Government.
Aniagwu said that the purported video of two military personnel threatening the residents of Warri was an arrangement of those who did not want the peace of the state.
He added that the video was not a true representation of Nigerian military officers who knew the implication of threatening citizens with such an illicit video.
Aniagwu pointed out that the military command whose responsibility it was to deploy personnel had debunked the video materials.
“Let me thank Deltans for their cooperation so far and urge them to discard the concocted videos aimed at causing disaffection between the military and Deltans.
“The concocted video clips were aimed at causing disaffection between Deltans and the security agencies carrying out lawful duties”, NAN quoted him as saying.
“While we appeal to our people to remain law-abiding, it is imperative to state that videos trending on social media are not a true reflection of happenings in the state.
“We, therefore, call on our people to discard the videos and continue to remain indoors as directed by the government to enable us to curb the possible outbreak and spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the state.”
