South-East Accuses Army of Plotting to Depopulate Them with "Free Medicals"

Free medicals by the Army have been going on in Nigerian communities, including Delta State. Sadly, a free medical outreach the Army extended to some communities in the South-East, was described on Wednesday as a tool to depopulate the South-East region.

Pupils in public and private schools in states of the region on Wednesday abandoned academic activities as information spread that a vaccination exercise had been added to the outreach and was meant to send schoolchildren to early graves.

As the funny rumour spread to Asaba, pupils on Wednesday abandoned classrooms following a rumour that soldiers would come to schools to inject them to death.

The unverified information filtered into Asaba at about 9am, and quickly spread like a wildfire. Some of the school heads, who could not control the situation, alerted the government, but many pupils were already out of their school premises.

The state government summoned heads of security agencies for quick intervention.

The state Commissioner of Information, Patrick Ukah, advised both parents and teachers not to panic, saying there was no iota of truth in the rumour.

He said, “This panic in schools is needless because there is no vaccination currently going on in any school.”

In Anambra State, Governor Willie Obiano, asked the army to stop the outreach.

The governor reacted to panic at Ozubulu, in the Ekwusigo area caused by unsubstantiated information that soldiers wanted to forcefully inject monkeypox vaccine into schoolchildren.

Parents and guardians in Imo State also stormed schools to forcefully withdraw their wards following the news of the vaccination.

It was said that pupils whose parents did not come on time scaled fences and took to their heels.

Deputy Director, Public Relations, 82 Division, Enugu, Col. Sagir Musa, said the free medical outreach, being conducted by the army as part of Operation Python Dance 2, “was not harmful to anyone”.

He said, “Instructively, the free medical services in the region started on September 18, 2017, in Nkwaagu community of Abakaliki Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

“The wicked, ill-motivated rumour is the handiwork of unpatriotic elements who can go to any lengths to discredit the noble services of the Nigerian Army in the region, and they will not succeed.

“The public is hereby requested to disregard the wicked rumour for the good of the people.”