The Centre for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency (CESJET) has accused the International Committee on Red Cross (ICRC) of a deliberately peddling falsehood to undermine the efforts of the Nigerian military in the North-East.
The Centre believes the international humanitarian organisation is misrepresenting facts in a bid to mislead unsuspecting members of the general public.
This trails a recent report where the Red Cross alleged that nearly 22,000 Nigerians are missing in the North-East.
This figure, according to the ICRC, represented the highest number of missing persons registered in any country.
At a world press conference on Monday in Abuja, CESJET revealed that there is a campaign of calumny by the ICRC against the Military’s counter-insurgency operations in North-East Nigeria.
Speaking on behalf of CESJET, Executive Director, Isaac Ikpa, said that there’s no element of truth in the piece, describing it as a propaganda to dampen the morale of the troops, especially at a time the military recorded massive gains in the fight against terrorism.
The Centre, therefore, advised Red Cross to desist from commenting on issues outside their operational purview and concentrate on providing humanitarian services that it is known for.
While urging Nigerians to always verify such reports, the Centre, however, called on the ICRC to tender an unreserved apology to the military authorities, as well as withdraw the statement credited to it.