“Sadly, these thugs have been wrongly viewed and addressed as real military personnel on various social and mainstream media channels, including blogs, chat rooms and messaging platforms.
The Nigerian Army has accused politicians of sponsoring thugs to impersonate soldiers.
According to the military, politicians were dressing thugs in Army uniform to carry out violence during the elections.
Reacting to reports that officers of the Nigerian Army interfered and disrupted the electoral process in some states, Colonel Sagir Musam, spokesman of the Nigerian Army, said the thugs appeared as personnel of the Nigerian Army and successfully deceived the people.
A statement issued by Ma'am read: “Sadly, these thugs have been wrongly viewed and addressed as real military personnel on various social and mainstream media channels, including blogs, chat rooms and messaging platforms.
“The Army understands that most civilians caught in the callous onslaught of these murderous thugs might not be able to distinguish between genuine soldiers and impersonators, especially when they are armed with military-type weapons.”
He stated that those apprehended have confessed and given needed information about how the criminal act was being carried out.
He added that the Army would work hard to investigate and prosecute all politicians are involved in the criminal act.