The Nigerian Navy has urged the general public to disregard news that one of its officers was on Monday killed at Oron Beach, Akwa Ibom State, by Black Marine, a group suspected to be the militant wing of the Biafra Nations League, a separatist group operating at the Bakassi Peninsula.

In a statement on Facebook, the Nigerian Navy said the purported incident had been investigated and found to be false. It added that there had never been any activity of the BNL at Oron Beach.

It said the report could be propaganda by BNL to deliberately cause panic and apprehension.

The statement read, “The attention of the Nigerian Navy (NN) has been drawn to a news story trending on various social media platforms since yesterday 31 Jan 22 which reported that one naval officer was killed by a militant group identified as ‘Black Marine’ at Oron Beach. The group according to the report is suspected to be the armed wing of Biafra Nations League (BNL) which is a separatist group operating at the Bakassi Peninsula.

“This purported incident has been investigated and found to be false. The public is therefore requested to note that no such incident occurred at the Beach. Additionally, it is to be noted that there has never been any activity of BNL at the Beach and in Oron generally both in the past and as at the time of the investigation. The Beach was observed to be calm and peaceful while all operators were conducting their activities unhindered.

“The social media report could be considered to be ‘Fake News’. It should therefore be disregarded in its entirety as it could be a propaganda by BNL to deliberately cause panic and apprehension at the popular Oron Beach. However, the Naval units and formations have been directed to intensify patrols to reassure legitimate business men in that general area of their safety and security,” the statement added.

(The PUNCH)