Group says Gov. Wike used disease scare to discredit military

The group in a press briefing held in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, decried the hoaxes about soldiers supposedly forcefully injecting school students and pupils with killer vaccines in Rivers State and other parts of Nigeria, blaming the scare on the Governor.

While addressing the press, the Executive Secretary of NICreL, Rev. Steven Onwu, said their findings have shown that Wike planted the story with the aim of rubbishing the security apparatus in the state.

The group, while lamenting the untold distress the hoaxes have caused children and their parents alike, noted that none of those that have responded to the fake news has been able to tender credible evidence of anyone being forcefully vaccinated in any part of the country.

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Rev. Onwu described the hoax story as an act of causing terror to spread among the populace to score cheap political points with an institution that has sacrificed so much for the country.

The statement reads in part:

"NICreL condemns the hoaxes in the strongest terms as it is abominable to toy with vaccination which is something that is sensitive to human life.

Information at our disposal has indicted the Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike and his spawns in the Indigenous People of Biafra [IPOB], as the brains behind the hoaxes, particularly in Rivers State.

It has been further revealed that Mr. Wike facilitated fake Army uniforms that IPOB members are wearing to cause panic in schools.

This situation has forced schools to shut down in several states as IPOB members dressed in military outfits pretend to force pupils to receive the vaccination.

This development is the actualization of threats by both IPOB and Mr. Wike on several occasions to rid the south-east and south-south of military and police presence to enable them to pursue their stated secessionist agenda.

The impersonation of the Army to terrorize citizens, therefore, appears geared towards reversing the gains of its Operation Python Dance II while frustrating Operation Crocodile Smile II as both have medical outreaches that are not conducted in school environments.

The impersonation of the military by members of a terrorist group is a mutation of the threats posed by IPOB and one that must be immediately countered.

The hoaxes about the killer vaccination are being elaborately staged for propaganda value for now but it is a matter of time before these terrorists begin to actually inject children with biological agents.

We, therefore, call on the Nigerian Army to immediately investigate persons wearing its uniform to impersonate soldiers and terrorizing citizens with fake news about forceful vaccination with killer viruses.

Anyone caught in this nefarious act should be dealt with in accordance with the law. We also urge the Nigerian Governors’ Forum and the National Assembly to call Mr. Wike to order as his ambition is not worth plunging the country into crisis over whatever that ambition may be."

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The group further appealed to stakeholders to immediately make arrangements for counselors to attend to pupils that have been traumatized by these hoaxes since many of them have been made to experience the equivalent of war-induced evacuations because of the indiscretions of a few misguided elements.