The Nigerian Military on Thursday denied the existence of graveyards as well as the clandestine burial of over one thousand soldiers prosecuting the ongoing war against insurgency in the North East.
In the statement signed by the Director, Defence Information, Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu, the Defence HQ said the Armed Forces doesn’t engage in secret burials for its fallen heroes. The statement said reports by Wall Street Journal that the Nigerian Military had secret graveyards in the North East theatre of operation only emanated from the uninformed position of the author.
The statement reads
“In tandem with the traditions of the Armed Forces, Fallen heroes are duly honoured and paid the last respect in befitting military funeral of international standard, featuring funeral parade, gravesite oration, solemn prayers for the repose of departed souls by Islamic and Christian clerics, as well as gun salutes, aside other military funeral rites.
“The cemetery described in the publication, which is situated in Maimalari military Cantonment is an officially designated military cemetery for the Armed Forces of Nigeria in the North East theatre, with a Cenotaph erected in honour of our fallen heroes. The official cemetery has played host to several national and international dignitaries, where wreaths were laid in honour of the fallen heroes. It is, therefore, a far cry from the sacrilegious impression being painted by “Wall Street Journal”.
The Defence Headquarters, therefore, urges members of the Armed Forces and the general public to disregard such a misinformed publication and see it as a figment of the imagination of the writer, whose knowledge of military valued ethos and traditions is grossly misplaced.
Recall that the WSJ had in an article titled, “Nigeria Buries Soldiers at Night in Secret Cemetery” alleged that the military buried soldiers in unmarked graves in the North East.
