NDA Invasion: Outrage As Military Launches Manhunt For Killers

By James Orji

As intensive search for two officers kidnapped by bandit at the Nigerian Defense Academy, Kaduna state continues prominent groups in the country such as Arewa Consultative Forum has condemned worsening insecurity in the nation.

Two officers were reported killed and other one kidnapped during the attack by the dare-devil kidnappers who stormed the nation’s elite military training camp in the early hours of Tuesday.

Major Bashir Jagira, the NDA spokesman confirmed that two officers were killed during the attack.

“The security architecture of the Nigerian Defence Academy was compromised early this morning (Tuesday) by unknown gunmen, who gained access into the residential area within the academy in Afaka. During the unfortunate incident, we lost two personnel and one was abducted.

“The security architecture of the Nigerian Defence Academy was compromised early this morning (Tuesday) by unknown gunmen, who gained access into the residential area within the academy in Afaka. During the unfortunate incident, we lost two personnel and one was abducted.

“The academy, in collaboration with the 1 Division, Nigerian Army, and the Air Training Command as well as other security agencies in Kaduna State, has since commenced the pursuit of the unknown gunmen within the general area with a view to tracking them and rescuing the abducted personnel.

“The NDA community and the cadets are safe in the academy. We assure the general public that these unknown gunmen will soon be apprehended and the abducted personnel rescued,” Jagira said.

Also, General Lucky Irabor, the Chief of Defense Staff, CDS said after the attack that the military is on the trail of the abductors to recover the officers. The CDS also stated that the security of the facility was compromised by insiders, adding that errant officers will be fished out and punished.

Irabor said “The gallant troops of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, in joint operations are in hot pursuit of bandits that attacked the offices’ quarters of the prestigious Nigerian Defence Academy, in Kaduna early hours of August 24, 2021.

“The gunmen who sneaked in after breaching the perimeter fence went straight to the officer’s living quarters and started shooting sporadically. Unfortunately, two brave and gallant officers paid the supreme price, while one other officer was abducted by the bandits in the process.”

The military explanation over the attack, is obviously, not satisfactory to ACF, the Northern social, political organization and others who slammed the government for the worsening insecurity in the country.

The ACF, through its National Publicity Secretary, Emmanuel Yawe, described the attack on the military monument as shocking, adding that the incident highlighted the parlous state of insecurity across the country.

He said, “It’s a terrible development. It underscores our parlous state of security in Nigeria and the uncountable calls by the ACF and others for something to be done by the government to improve our collective security.

“The latest security breach is another embarrassment to the ACF. The NDA is a proud monument of the efforts of the first generation of northerners, who fought hard to bring development to the North; the likes of Muhammadu Ribadu, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and Sir Ahmadu Bello, who brought the institution to Kaduna. They did not bring it here for our generation to hand it over to bandits or whatever we call them.”

The Southern Kaduna Progressive Union, SOKAPU in its condemnation of the attack said Nigeria could become Afghanistan in no distant time.

The spokesman for SOKAPU, Luka Binniyat, said it was shocking that the attackers carried the despicable act so successfully without any casualty on their part.

SOKAPU said, “This attack, the killing of two officers and the kidnapping of another one at the NDA, to be honest, did not come to SOKAPU as a surprise at all. This is because even the barracks of the Command and Staff College, Jaji, which is between Zaria and Kaduna, has been invaded a few times this year by the same armed men, who went away with cattle and other loot.”

Meanwhile, the Kaduna state government has expressed sadness of the attack.

The state’s Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, conveyed the government heartfelt sympathy to the institution, the immediate families of officers killed by the bandits as well as the family of the abducted officer.