Delta Government has urged the public, particularly people of the state, to discountenance video clips on the purported threatening of Warri residents by military personnel in the wake of COVID-19 lockdown.
The State Commissioner for Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, said this in a statement on Friday in Asaba.
He said that the video on Warri residents defying the stay-at-home order of the state government over the Coronavirus pandemic and confronting security operatives was concocted and, therefore, fake.
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He said that the concocted video was not a true representation of happenings in Warri or any part of Delta in the last 48 hours.
According to him, the video clips in circulation are figments of the imagination of a few disgruntled elements bent on pitching the people against the State Government.
Aniagwu said that the purported video of two military personnel threatening the residents of Warri was an arrangement of those who did not want the peace of the state.
He said that the video was not a true representation of Nigerian military officers who knew the implication of threatening citizens with such an illicit video.
He added that the military command whose responsibility it was to deploy personnel had debunked the video materials.
Aniagwu, therefore, called on the public to disregard the videos, as it was the machination of those bent at causing disaffection between the people and military authorities.
“Let me thank Deltans for their cooperation so far and urge them to discard the concocted videos aimed at causing disaffection between the military and Deltans.
“There is no report of the killing of soldiers in Warri or any other part of Delta.
“The concocted video clips were aimed at causing disaffection between Deltans and the security agencies carrying out lawful duties.
“While we appeal to our people to remain law-abiding, it is imperative to state that videos trending on social media are not a true reflection of happenings in the state.
“We, therefore, call on our people to discard the videos and continue to remain indoors as directed by the government to enable us to curb the possible outbreak and spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the state.
“As a government, we will continue to appeal to the security agencies to apply rules of engagement as practised in most democracies as they carry out their lawful duties,” he said.