DHQ warns against manipulating visuals of military personnel

Nigeria’s military has cautioned politicians and their supporters to “desist from misusing images and visuals of military personnel” for political gains.

The statement issued on Wednesday by Major General Jimmy Akpor, Director Defence Information, was in reaction to two trending video clips of troops allegedly dancing in praise of a certain presidential candidate, and dancing in mockery of another.

While frowning at the clips, the military top brass warned that such videos are capable of sending disturbing signals to members of the public, especially as the general elections are close by, and security agencies are expected to play neutral.

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“The attention of the Defence Headquarters has been drawn to two videos circulating online. The first video clip consciously portrays troops making merry and dancing to music purportedly in celebration and open endorsement of one presidential candidate in the forthcoming elections. The second video clip (with the same visuals as the first one) willfully shows troops supposedly dancing to a derogatory song that insults the personality of another presidential candidate.

“On the face value, the videos send a disturbing signal to members of the public and the political class in particular, as the videos seemingly connote partisanship by military personnel and by extension, the entire military establishment.

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“On a closer scrutiny however, it is obvious that the original visual content (which was used for the two videos) was manipulated to produce the current ones in circulation. The original soundtrack of the videos was a usual morale boosting song that soldiers sing during military exercises or activities. Unfortunately, certain individuals who are unknown at this point, took the video and superimposed different songs on the visuals, which soon went viral, thereby creating the odious impression that soldiers were promoting the candidacy of a particular politician while disapproving the another.

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“In the light of the foregoing, the Defence Headquarters seriously frowns at the deliberate attempt to misrepresent it and wishes to caution media and Public Relations handlers as well as supporters of political parties to desist from misusing images and visuals of military personnel as this does not only present the Armed Forces of Nigeria in bad light, it could also sow seeds of distrust and instability,”