Nigeria Army

The military officer identified as Major Dalung abducted Tuesday at the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, was reportedly found dead.

The officials of the Academy or the Army Headquarters, Abuja, have yet to confirm the murder of the officer.

The Chronicle, among other news channels, reports that other victims of the daring attack include a Lieutenant Commander, Wulah and a Flying Lieutenant, CM Okoronwo. They were shot dead during the invasion of Afaka barracks of the NDA. Another victim, 2nd Lieutenant Onah, sustained is currently at the NDA hospital with injuries from gunshots.

Recall that the Defence Academy earlier promised to track the shooters and rescue the kidnapped officer after the attack.

The attack was the first of its kind, which the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) described as “embarrassing” to the nation.

By Muhammad Abdurrahman

A statement signed by the Academy Public Relations Officer, Major Bashir Muhd Jajira, confirmed the early morning reports of the deadly attack at the Kaduna facility.

It states that “the security architecture of the Nigerian Defence Academy was compromised early this morning 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 1Division Nigerian Army and Air Training Command as well as other security agencies in Kaduna state has since commenced pursuit of the unknown gunmen within the general area with a view to tracking them and rescue the abducted personnel.”

The statement adds that the community and the cadets undergoing training at the military school are safe. It finally assures the public that the shooters will be arrested and the abducted officer rescued.

The security situation continues to deteriorate in especially parts of Kaduna and other northwestern states of Nigeria. However, the government and its security operative claim to be doing everything to tackle the situation.

By Sumayyah Auwal Usman

The remains of late Maj. Gen. Hassan Ahmed, who was assassinated yesterday (Thursday), was buried in Abuja this afternoon. It’s reported that the incident happened while the late Major General was returning to Abuja from Lokoja, the Kogi State capital. Some yet-to-be identified shooters attacked his car around the Abaji area council, killing him. The attackers took away the wife of the senior military officer.

Many sympathisers described the situation surrounding the demise of Hassan as very unfortunate. Until his death, he was a director at the Army Headquarters in Abuja.

By Muhammad Sabiu

The Nigerian army has on Thursday refuted media reports alleging that about 1000 repentant Boko Haram members were secretly released and handed over to the Borno State Government.

This was contained in a statement released by the Director Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, through Nigerian Army’s official Facebook handle.

The statement reads, “The Nigerian Army (NA) has been notified of a media publication alleging that the NA has handed over 1009 Ex-Boko Haram fighters to Borno State government. The report also alleged that the event was shrouded in secrecy.”

The Army added that “this report, is obviously one of those attempts to dampen troops morale and denigrate the NA, riding on the back of unsubstantiated report and misinformation.”

In an attempt to make a clarification, it further recounted what actually transpired. “It is an indisputable fact that the ongoing Counter Terrorism Counter Insurgency Operations (CTCOIN) in the North East has led to the arrest of several terrorism/insurgency suspects. These suspects have been held in custody, while undergoing profiling and further investigations by experts from the Joint Investigation Centre (JIC) and those who are found culpable are usually handed over to prosecuting agencies accordingly, while those who are not implicated in terrorism and insurgency are cleared and released to the state government for rehabilitation before they are reintegrated into the society. These cleared suspects are therefore not ex Boko Haram fighters, as peddled in the said online report and as the masterminds would want to impress on the public. A total of 1009 cleared suspects, not ex-fighters, were therefore released after this rigorous process on Wednesday 14 July 2021.

It is also necessary to categorically state that the handing over of the cleared suspects was not shrouded in secrecy as it was witnessed by United Nations Humanitarian and government agencies, in tandem with global best practice,” the statement added.