Despite increased kidnappings and other crimes in the South East, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division of Nigerian Army, Enugu, Major General Umar Musa, yesterday, said that the insecurity situation in the region is not as bad as being portrayed by the media.

He stated that the insecurity situation in the region is more of criminality, whereby, gunmen terrorising residents hid under the cloak of Biafra agitation to commit crimes.

Speaking when the leadership of Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Enugu, Musa commended journalists in Enugu State for their assistance in fighting violent crimes through their reports.

Musa, who recently assumed duty as the new GOC of 82 Division lamented that residents of the South East worsen the security situation in the region by peddling fake news, particularly on the social media.

This, he said, had portrayed South East in bad light, lamenting that peddling fake information creates fear, lack of confidence and is negatively affecting livelihood of South East people.

Musa said: “I have been here for two months, and I can tell you that the situation in the South East is not as bad as it is being portrayed. If you stayed outside, you might think this place is a war zone.

“I know we have setbacks in some places, but they are not as bad as we read them on social media, and shouldn’t be used to generalise the entire place.

“Setbacks are part of our work as soldiers. But, because we are trained to be resilient, that’s why we are defeating criminals in the region. Our resilience is winning the war against criminality in the South East.”

The GOC, who promised to partner with journalists, as well as other stakeholders in the region to fight the situation, however, charged media practitioners, saying: “Always seek clarifications from us before going to town with your report about us and security situation in the state.”

He also called on residents of the region to stop believing propaganda being deployed by criminals to create fear.(The Guardian)