The Nigerian Army has debunked reports claiming that soldiers escorting the Brigade Commander, Amechi Agwu, of the 23 Brigade shot 12 women who were protesting in Lamurde, a community in Yola, the capital of Adamawa State, on Monday.

Some publications accused men of the Nigerian Army of opening fire on a group of protesters in Yola and killing no fewer than seven women.

“The tragic incident occurred Monday afternoon, at Rigange junction, deepening tensions already inflamed by a violent assault earlier in the day by suspected Chobo-speaking militia, who had launched coordinated attacks on multiple communities in Lamurde Local Government Area,”one of the reports read.

In a statement released by the Nigerian Army on Tuesday morning, the Acting Assistant Director of Army Public Relations, Captain Olusegun Abidoye, described the report as an attempt to smear the image of the Nigerian Army.

“The attention of Headquarters 23 Brigade Nigerian Army has been drawn to a baseless report by the Sahara Reporters and some other online media published on Monday, 8 December 2025. The said report levelled unfounded and false allegations against the Brigade and its Commander,” the statement read in part.

According to Abidoye, neither the brigade commander nor his escorts were at the scene of the communal clash. He further stated that the Brigade Commander was participating virtually in the Chief of Army Staff’s weekly operational brief at the time of the purported shooting by his escorts at the time of the incident.

He added that the communal clash was a result of land disputes between two conflicting tribes, the Chobo and Bachama tribes and troops were deployed to the scene to restore normalcy to the affected communities.

“In the course of its operations, a militia armed group suspected of fighting for one of the warring communities- Chobo attacked the troops .The troops, being a professional, adaptable and combat ready force decisively engaged the militia armed men in the fire fight. During the exchange of fire, troops neutralized 3 of the gunmen and forced other members of the militia group to flee the general area. The troops were able to put the clashes under control,” said Abidoye.

Abidoye further noted that the troops received a distress call that the warring community had mobilised to attack Lamurde Local Government’s Secretariat and moved to secure the secretariat, but some women denied them entrance into the secretariat.

He also stated that the dead women were killed by armed militias who lack training to handle weapons.
“Without equivocation, the casualties were caused by the unprofessional handling of automatic weapons by the local militias who are not proficiently trained to handle such automatic weapons.”