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Operation Positive Identification has started today, Friday, according to the Defence Headquarters; and in spite of protest by many Nigerians including swathe of complaints on social media.
The army said online complaints by citizens underscore the disinformation on social media.
The army has defended the operation as only targeted at flushing out “foreign combatants infiltrating our borders and conducting attacks.”
According to military authorities, social media has helped in the misinformation of citizens which could undermine the original objective of the operation to improve nationwide security.
Against the call by the House of Representatives that the army should halt the moves, the Chief of Army Staff, Let-Gen Tukur Buratai, who appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on the Army, said the operation was designed to identify and eliminate criminal foreign elements from the country. He said any means of identification would be accepted during the exercise.
The army had, in early September, announced plans for Operation Positive Identification.
Controversy was stirred in late September when military authorities, in a statement by the acting Director of Army Public Relations, Col Sagir Musa, said the operation would be extended nationwide to “check out for bandits, kidnappers, armed robbers, ethnic militia, cattle rustlers as well as other sundry criminals across the various regions of Nigeria.”
Since then, social media has been agog with what the army described as false reports.
But many Nigerians of high standing have also condemned the operation, Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has asked a court to order the operation be stopped because it violates the citizens’ right to liberty and free movement without harassment.
