The Nigerian Army on Friday said that the abducted female military officer is still with her captors.
The army said this in reaction to claims that the abducted officer has been rescued by the police.
The officer, Lieutenant PP Johnson, was abducted by unknown gunmen on December 26, 2022, while visiting her grandmother, in Aku-Okigwe in Imo State.
The video of her abduction and torture went viral with a background voice warning all Igbos in the Nigerian Army to resign or face abduction soon.
However, after a few hours, it was reported that the abducted female officer was rescued by the Nigeria Police Force.
But, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, a Director of the Army Public Relations, in a statement on Friday, said no rescue has been made yet, as search operations are already in progress.
“The attention of the Nigerian Army (NA) has been drawn to some publications circulating on social media insinuating the rescue of Lieutenant PP Johnson, a female officer who was abducted on Monday 26 December 2022 while visiting her grandmother in Aku-Okigwe in Imo state, shortly after completion of her Cadet training and subsequent commissioning as a Lieutenant into the Nigerian Army.”
According to him the action of these heartless beings should therefore be crystal clear to those who are still in doubt of the true status of these groups, that IPOB/ESN are terrorists, masquerading as freedom fighters and do not deserve the support of anyone, particularly the good people of South East Nigeria.
He said the Nigeria Army noted that the information making the rounds is unsubstantiated as the officer is yet to be released or rescued from her abductors.
He said the video footage being circulated and associated with the rescue claim is an old video of the arrest of a suspect earlier effected by troops, adding that, the information on the rescue of the officer did not emanate from the NA.
The statement while pleading with members of the public with useful information about her location to volunteer information noted that the NA would leave a stone unturned in bringing the perpetrators to book.
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