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Presidency’s claim on military withholding casualty figure wrong – Fact check

Published

5 years ago

November 27, 2018

The Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity , Mr Femi Adesina , has been under fire for reportedly saying that military the world over does not give information on its casualties .Also , a fact check showed that on the contrary, it is a standard practice by government of developed countries to intimate citizens on the number of casualties during military battles .

There had been conflicting figures on the actual number of deaths in the attacks by Boko Haram on the 157 Task Force Battalion at Metele, Guzamala , Borno State.

The military , in a statement, had confirmed the attacks and condemned casualty figures published in the media . It , however , refused to give the actual number of casualties .

Adesina, during a programme on Channels TV, Politics Today backed the refusal of the government and the military to give the casualty figure.

“ All over the world , the military does not or rarely discloses the figure of its casualties , ” he said .

Nigerians, including Twitter users, who took up Adesina on the quote, referred him to the US , UK , French and Canadian practice of declaring casualty figures .

A check by The PUNCH showed that the United States Department of Defence , on its website, gave up – to – date information on casualty figure in different US military operations .

The last update said in Operation Iraqi Freedom ( casualties that occurred between March 19 , 2003 , and August 31 , 2010 , in the Arabian Sea , Bahrain , Gulf of Aden , Gulf of Oman , Iraq , Kuwait , Oman , Persian Gulf , Qatar , Red Sea , Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates ) , a total of 4 , 410 US military men were killed .

The United Kingdom , also on the government website provided information on casualty figures .

In a 30 – page PDF document , gave a breakdown on the death of the military officers , including the cause of death .

The French in particular have a dedicated website where they kept the database of military officers who died in different battles .

The Canadian government also published the names and pictures of fallen soldiers .

One Mustafa Haffysa , reminded Adesina that the President had in 2015 criticised the then government of former President Goodluck Jonathan on a similar case .

“ It is unacceptable to ignore or minimise the deaths of Nigerian citizens during elections. It is heart- breaking . This must change , ” Buhari had tweeted on January 13 , 2015 .

When contacted for clarification on the statement, Adesina did not pick his calls and had yet to respond to a text message sent to him as of press time .