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The Nigerian Army opened a fresh and publicly contested front in its ongoing campaign against IPOB and the Eastern Security Network on Sunday, inviting journalists and civil society organizations to independently verify IED recoveries in Imo State after a viral social media campaign accused the military of publishing manipulated photographs — allegations the army categorically denied while its own counter-disclosure inadvertently deepened the credibility dispute.
Headquarters Operation UDO KA and the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army extended the invitation through a statement by Acting Deputy Director of Army Public Relations Lt. Col. Olabisi Olalekan Ayeni, describing the verification tour as covering the Orsu-Eketutu Mother Valley and Orsu-Ihiteukwa operational areas in Imo State. The statement called on media executives, defense correspondents, civil society representatives, and independent observers to liaise with the 82 Division’s public relations office to arrange inspection appointments for the recovered IED-making materials, in a controlled format that would not compromise ongoing operations or endanger personnel.
The controversy began on March 12, when the Nigerian Army published images on its official social media platforms purporting to show IEDs and bomb-making materials recovered from ESN and IPOB camps during Operation Eastern Sanity, the current phase of Operation UDO KA running simultaneously across Imo and Anambra states. IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, dismissed the images as fabricated in a statement the following day. The group alleged that the devices shown had been photographed in other parts of Nigeria and were being falsely attributed to Imo State operations to manufacture evidence of a bomb-making network in the Southeast.
Social media users examining the unblurred versions of the images claimed that at least one photograph’s metadata placed it in Ikorodu, Lagos State — with coordinates of approximately 6.5244 degrees North, 3.3792 degrees East, timestamped to May 22, 2024 — and another in Oke-Ogun, Oyo State. Both locations are in southwestern Nigeria, geographically distant from the Orsu axis of Imo State where the army said the recoveries were made.
The army’s response on Sunday, however, generated a further credibility problem. When the military released what it described as “original images” with GPS tags to rebut the metadata allegations, one of the photographs was labeled “Nkwerre, Anambra, Nigeria.” Independent observers quickly noted that Nkwerre is a local government area in Imo State, not Anambra State — an error in the army’s own counter-evidence that critics said undermined the credibility of a statement designed specifically to establish geographic accuracy. The army did not issue a correction on the Nkwerre misidentification as of Sunday evening.
Ayeni said that the geolocation details on the originally released images were deliberately blurred as a routine operational security measure and were not obscured for any other reason, dismissing claims that the blurring was intended to hide the actual location of the photographs. The army accused specific social media accounts — including an X account identified as Harry Da Diegot and a Facebook account identified as Biafra Patriots — of manipulating metadata and geolocation data to falsely suggest the photographs originated from Lagos and Oyo states. It framed the online campaign as a coordinated effort by pro-IPOB actors to undermine military gains in the Southeast and inject ethnic division into what it described as a straightforward security and counter-insurgency matter.
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“Having lost operational assets and capacity to terrorize residents, they have now resorted to propaganda, fake news and divisive narratives,” Ayeni said, adding that the Nigerian Army “is, and remains, an apolitical, professional, and multi-ethnic institution” whose personnel are deployed irrespective of state of origin. The army urged Nigerians to verify information through official channels before sharing claims that could inflame ethnic tensions.
A separate operational development announced on March 12, and confirmed in Sunday’s statement, is the reopening of the Lilu-Eketutu Road in Imo State’s Orsu Local Government Area. The road had been shut for three years after the military said residents had been displaced or killed by armed groups who occupied their homes and farmlands in the area. Joint troops of Operation UDO KA, including personnel of the Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Air Force, Department of State Services, the Nigeria Police Force, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, conducted the clearance operations that preceded the reopening. The army said the reopening and the associated clearance of camps and IED-manufacturing facilities in the Mother Valley region were the result of sustained multi-agency joint operations extending across the Imo-Anambra border area.
The image authenticity dispute touches a broader and unresolved issue in the public information environment surrounding military operations in Nigeria’s Southeast. For several years, both the army and IPOB have accused each other of circulating misleading images, fabricated claims, and manipulated evidence to shape public perception of the conflict. Independent monitors and journalists have found it consistently difficult to verify claims made by either party, given the limited physical access available to the operational areas in Imo’s Orsu corridor, the absence of independent embedded journalism, and the restriction of local media through a combination of security conditions and institutional pressure. The army’s invitation to media and civil society organizations for a verification tour is therefore a potentially significant transparency step — one whose credibility will depend on the access conditions, the documentation protocols, and the independence of those who choose to participate.
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Neither IPOB’s Emma Powerful nor any other IPOB representative had issued a response to Sunday’s army statement as of the time of publication. No date has been confirmed for the verification tour. The 82 Division Army Public Relations office said interested parties should make contact to arrange visits on terms that will be confirmed on an individual basis.
