The Department of State Services has dismissed reports making the rounds that the service had alerted Nigerians to the movement of terrorists into the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and other parts of the country, especially the South and Middle Belt.
The Service reacted to the report, which had been circulating for over five years, in a statement by its spokesperson, Dr. Peter Afunanya, on Friday.
The statement said: “The attention of the DSS has been drawn to false reports circulated on the social media that the service had alerted the public about the movement of terrorists into the FCT and other parts of southern and middle belt regions of Nigeria.
“Another misleading report relates to the alleged hijack of luxury buses of three major transport companies on the Lokoja-Okene Road by persons suspected to be championing an ethnic agenda.
“The alert purportedly issued by the service on the arrival of Boko Haram and other terrorist elements to the aforementioned places has been in circulation since 2013 when it was first created by mischief makers whose handiwork is to cause chaos.
“Similarly, the report concerning alleged attack on the luxury buses conveying a particular ethnic group to their local base was first created some years back to deceive and incite unsuspecting persons.
“The public is urged to disregard these fallacious narratives and reports in their entirety. As fake news that they are, the DSS wishes to dismiss them as non-existent and therefore describes them as figments of the imagination of their creators.
“The illusive stories are merely designed by some zealots to instigate ethno-religious and political crises of violent and destructive dimensions across the country.
“It has, however, become obvious that the main aim of engaging in these undesirable actions is to also undermine national security for the achievement of some ulterior goals.
“The service frowns at the continuous exploitation of social, religious and tribal differences by purveyors of doom to ignite extreme violent actions among the populace.
“While security and law enforcement agencies are totally committed to sustaining maximum efforts in ensuring public safety in the nation, citizens are enjoined to disregard these deceitful reports that do not emanate from the service and go about their normal businesses.
“Considering that security is a collective responsibility of all and sundry, everyone is advised to be more committed in this regard and report suspicious persons to relevant security agencies nearest to them.”
DSS reacts to report on terrorists movement, attacks on luxury buses
