The Defence headquarters has described as false, the story by The Wall Street Journal which accused its officers of burying a thousand dead soldiers in secret graves, to avoid bad publicity. The American medium had reported that soldiers are being buried in unmarked graves in Borno State, after the army suffers defeat from Boko Haram.

But Defence spokesman, Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu released a statement saying: “This insinuation can only emanate from an uninformed position of the author of the said publication. Therefore, it must be unambigously clarified that the Armed Forces of Nigeria does not indulge in secret burials, as it is sacrilegious and a profanity to extant ethos and traditions of the Nigerian military.”

He insists fallen heroes are honoured in befitting military funeral of international standard, featuring funeral parade, and solemn prayers.