The Central Naval Command (CNC) of the Nigerian Navy at the weekend warned military personnel against partisan politics and hate speeches ahead of the general elections.
The Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), CNC, Rear Admiral Saidu Garba said troops and military officers should be concerned with the business of protecting the country.
Speaking at a Jumat service in Yenagoa to commemorate the 2019 Armed Forces Remembrance Day, Garba said military operatives were making supreme sacrifice to protect the country and called on citizens to pray for them.
Addressing officers, he said: “Re-dedicate yourselves to your service. Avoid all political associations that will put you in trouble.
“I will always remind you also to keep away from involving yourself in hate messages that is being transmitted in the social media, because that is where most of this trouble we found ourselves emanate from
“We are here to remember our fallen heroes. This Jumat service today is to serve three purposes.The first one is to pray for all our foreign heroes, those who have gone before us and to pray for their families which they left behind.
“Secondly, it’s a prayer for ourselves. We are all sarcrifing our lives in this job. It is a job that call for supreme sacrifice and we have all opted to join it and so we have to pray for ourselves.
“I want to use this opportunity to remind us that we must also pray for our country because this is the only country we have. We have to defend it.
“Not everybody will go out there to fight for this country. Most of us that have chosen to do that deserve all the prayers we can get, not only for ourselves but for the nation at large.
“So, I want to use this opportunity urge us to be more dedicated to the services we have voluntarily agreed to join. Don’t forget that it is a voluntary service. It is a service that the God almighty has recognised”.
The FOC described the military service as a noble one and prayed God to bring peace to the country.
He further prayed for the protection of soldiers at the battlefield and called for a peaceful country for children and future generation.
