Blogger who criticised the Chief of Defence Staff alleges threat to life

A blogger and social commentator, Elvis Iyorngurum, has alleged threat to his life following his scathing criticism of the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh, in a blog post.

Iyorngurum had alleged in a write-up entitled, “A Lesson for All Nigerians,” posted on an online platform, newsrescue.com, last week that Badeh sent helicopters to evacuate his family members from Mubi, Adamawa State shortly before a Boko Haram attack.

“Before that sad day, someone from Mubi would have boasted that the Chief of Defence Staff is from their home town. But on the day that it mattered the most, he (Badeh) evacuated only his family members and abandoned everyone else to their fate.

“It means he had information of the impending attack and as the most senior military commander, he did not fly into the town to lead his men in battle to defend the community.

“He quietly saved only his family and left even the soldiers without an inspiring commander to motivate them to engage the terrorists and defend the town,” Iyorngurum had alleged in the write-up, which went viral online.

But the Defence Headquarters has since denied the claims, insisting that the article contained “strings of deliberate falsehood and spurious allegations.”

The military stated in a statement that the damage done by the “fabrications” contained in that article written by Iyorngurum had not only personal, but “national security implications.”

“While the DHQ remains at a loss as to the motive for these unconscionable fabrications, it is pertinent to quickly repudiate the false claim and to state clearly that at no time did the CDS send any helicopter to evacuate any of his family members before, during or after the attack on his home town.

“Contrary to the claims by the author, the helicopter that flew to Mubi was on an operational mission to reinforce the ground troops in preparation of efforts to repel the attack. The helicopter did not convey any civilian or relation of the CDS as disdainfully insinuated in the article,” the DHQ statement said.

Iyorngurum has, however, cried out that he has since been receiving explicit threats to his life following the military’s rebuttal.

Raising the alarm over what he described as “threats to my life,” the young man, who heads the information and communications unit of the Nigerian chapter of United Kingdom’s Institute of Management Specialists, said he fears for his life.

Following the alleged threats, Iyorngurum noted that he was putting his security in the hands of God, adding that the claims in the article were statement of facts and not fiction.

Stating that he had been receiving threat messages from “strange numbers,” he said a particular 

message forwarded to him indicated that his “cup will soon be full because the intelligence service monitors you.”

“I wrote an article a few days ago titled a lesson for all Nigerians which went viral and found a lot of support from Nigerians across religious and ethnic lines. The messages of commendation from patriotic and truth-loving Nigerians whose minds I spoke in the article are still flooding in.

“I have started receiving threats to my life, which I suspect is from some person who misunderstood the import of my article. This is not a surprise because we are in very trying times in the history of our country and, at a moment like this, the truth is usually the first casualty of interests that feel threatened by its mere mention,” he wrote in an article shared via his Twitter handle.

Meanwhile, as the suspected members of the Boko Haram Islamist sect continue to strike and claim casualties, members of the #BringBackOurGirls coalition has questioned the ability of the Federal Government to protect the citizenry.

One of the coordinators of the group, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, warned that Nigeria was gradually descending into chaos and anarchy, noting that killing of pupils on school assembly ground says a lot about the effectiveness of the counter-insurgency operations of the security forces.

“The reason government exists is to prevent the society from descending into chaos and anarchy. The Federal Government needs to prove that it exists in the north east.

“The bloody killers are at it again and it is not only heartless but extremely foolish for the rest of us as Nigerians to stand aloof and watch our sisters and brothers in the north east destroyed.

“We must arise as Nigerians. Are we ready to allow our children feel that going to school is a choice between staying alive or acquiring education? We must work together to avoid the pogrom of the Nigerian civil war or the Rwanda genocide. This cannot continue,” Ezekwesili wrote in a series of messages on Twitter.