BEVERLY HILLS, August 24, (THEWILL) – The Defence Headquarters, DHQ, on Wednesday warned that it is now monitoring the social media to checkmate hate speeches and the circulation of information against the Nigerian government and the military.
Speaking during Channels Television’s News At 10, the Director of Defence Information, DDI, Maj.-Gen. John Enenche, stated that the move became necessary in view of troubling activities and misinformation capable of jeopardizing the country’s unity.
He spoke two days after President Muhammadu Buhari declared in his nationwide broadcast that some of the discussions on social media for the over hundred days he was away on medical vacation, crossed the line and left him (Buhari) distressed.
Enenche pointed out that the social media has always been a challenge all over the world and for the military, stating that it “is a double-edged sword and we are also having a bit of it”.
His words, “Imagine when the President came back and addressed the nation, not up to 30 minutes later, a fake speech of the Commander-In-Chief was being circulated in order to do what? To derail the people. If you are not very sharp and if you didn’t listen to the speech or you don’t have a copy of it like I had it almost immediately, you wouldn’t know. So, looking at it from that perspective, it is a challenge everywhere.
“Having observed the possibility that the social media can be misused the military has taken steps to address that. One of such steps is the establishment of strategic media centres.
“What are we doing? In the military, we are now taking on it more seriously than ever. We have our strategic media centres that monitor the social media to be able to sieve out and react to all the ones that will be anti-government, be anti-military, (and) be anti-security.
“We tackle them appropriately with appropriate responses. Ahead of that, we are also proactive. We have measures in place, scientific measures to be able to sieve this information and also to get the public and let them know that some of this information they are getting is not genuine are not true and their objective is an anti-corporate existence of this country.”
