A Coalition of Civil Society Organisations in Kaduna state has called on Gen. Christopher Musa, the Chief of Defense Staff, not to be distracted from his commitment to serve his country and humanity.

The call followed a video that has gone viral, allegedly from an Islamic Cleric, accusing Musa of being used by France, America and Britain in favour of a war between an ECOWAS military force and the Nigerien military junta.

They urged him to ignore the accusations and continue in the manner that has seen him rise meritoriously to his present position in the military.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday in Kaduna, Nuhu Bahago, the Coordinator of the coalition, said the video is capable of inciting hatred against Gen. Musa.

While assuring him that the celebration and wide acceptance from the broad section of the country that welcomed his appointment is still intact, the group also called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Director General of the DSS not to allow the divisive and inciting video to go uninvestigated.

The Coalition expressed the hope that the full wrath of the law will be brought against the offending cleric if he is found guilty to serve as a deterrent to others.

“As you maybe aware, there is a trending video of an Islamic cleric making the rounds in which he made very inciting and malicious allegations against the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Christopher Musa, and also profiled his tribal group.

“Gen. Musa hosted a meeting of ECOWAS Chiefs of Defence Staff following the coup d’etat in Niger in which the need for the restoration of constitutional democracy in that country was extensively discussed.

“The outcome of that meeting seemed not to have gone down well with the cleric,” Bahago said, alleging that the religious leader “had alleged that France, America and Britain are using Gen. Musa to wage war against Niger, a Muslim country.

Bahago said: “Apart from accusing Gen. Musa of unwillingness to terminate banditry in Nigeria, the cleric went on to hatch a vile conspiracy theory accusing him of being a stooge of the West.”

According to Bahago, “The Cleric further alleged that the meeting of the Defence Chiefs of ECOWAS which was hosted by Gen. Musa was to pursue an agenda of France, England and the US whose representatives he (the Cleric) alleged attended the meeting.”

The cleric alleged that the “leader of Nigeria’s military, Christopher Musa, said that they are ready for war if given the authority.”

Bahago said, “in view of the unfortunate allegations, we as responsible, law-abiding Nigerians of fair minds who believe in truth and justice, must state our position on the issues raised in the video.

“We want to say that the tirade of the cleric is very offensive and clearly calculated to cause grievous harm on the CDS’s image and that of his Kataf people and instigate violence in the country,

“We condemn this act of hate and incitement and we call on relevant authorities to arrest and interrogate the cleric,” he said.