The Nigeria Army, on Sunday, informed members of the public to disregard media reports that two soldiers and seven miners were killed during a gun duel arising from a disagreement over gold nuggets in Magama village in Jibia LGA of Katsina State.
Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, Director of Army Public Relations, stated this in a statement on Sunday.
He described the publication as baseless, unfounded, untrue and a mere figment of the writer’s imagination, aimed at tarnishing the reputation of the Nigerian Army.
The statement insisted that no Nigerian soldier was killed nor involved in any skirmish with illegal miners in Magama village on 5 January, 2022.
He added that troops deployed in the North West are committed and engrossed in the fight against banditry and other criminalities bedeviling the region.
He further added that soldiers deployed to fight insurgents are not permitted to participate in any form of mining, whether legitimate or illegitimate.
Onyema, who said he’s not happy over the publication, added that, “this is certainly not what the troops require at this critical time.
“According to the publication, the incident occurred when the soldiers turned down an initially agreed offer of 500,000 naira per pit from the miners, but afterwards, turned around to demand more money on discovering the large quantum of gold nuggets found by the illegal miners in one of the pits.
“We assure the general public of the unrelenting commitment of our troops to decisively tackle the banditry menace in the North West,” the statement added.
