Gunmen attacks Nigeria’s Defense Academy

Kaduna, Nigeria-Nigeria troops are searching for an unknown insurgent who attacked the best defense academy on early August 24, killing two, injuring one and kidnapping another.

Security analysts described it as a “humiliating attack” on the Afaka barracks of the Nigerian Defense Academy (NDA) in the Igabi Municipal Area (LGA) in Kaduna, central Nigeria. Two senior officers, Major Wulah and Major CMO koronwo, were killed.

According to Ensign Bashir Muhad Jajira, Ensign Christopher Daton was taken hostage and Ensign escaped with a gunshot wound.

The kidnapped big

Whether Major Christopher survived the attack is at stake. According to some online media reports, the kidnapper contacted NDA authorities and demanded a ransom worth $ 400,000 (200 million naira). Others reported that he was killed. Neither the NDA nor the kidnapped officer’s family were willing to give an official explanation to the stunned public by Wednesday afternoon.

However, a close family friend of Major Datong’s family, who spoke exclusively to the Epoch Times in Kaduna on Wednesday and pleaded for her name not being mentioned, spoke with his wife on Tuesday while the Major was alive. I said I did.

“The kidnapper called the Major’s wife on Tuesday afternoon, called Datong, he spoke to his wife, and told her he was alive,” she said.

“But within minutes, social media began reporting that he was killed and his body was abandoned on the road. No one showed us the corpse. She [the wife] After reading on social media, she shouted and called the NDA commander when people began calling her to say “I’m sorry,” she told The Epoch Times.

“”[The commandent] I told her to ignore the rumors and said the NDA was doing its best to bring him back to life, “the source said.

Dateless photo of Major Christopher and his wife. (Provided by Major Daido’s family)

“The security architecture of the Nigerian Defense Academy was endangered earlier this morning by an unknown armed group that invaded a residential area within the Afaka Academy. During an unfortunate incident, we lost two people. , One was kidnapped, “according to a press statement signed by NDA spokesman Major Bashir Muhd ​​Jajira.

“The Academy, in collaboration with the 1 Division Nigerian Army Air Training Command and other security agencies in Kaduna, has begun pursuing unknown militants in the general area with the aim of pursuing and rescuing abducted personnel. “

The NDA is equivalent to West Point, the training academy of the US Army in Nigeria, and has produced virtually all appointed Nigerian military officers from several African countries since 1964.

It is built in a vast, fenced area of ​​approximately 2,500 acres, 16 km from the city of Kaduna.

It is isolated from the town by wide open fields on all sides, especially on the western side, where bandits and violent criminals occupied thousands of hectares of area, making them uncontrollable spaces. Apart from military training for cadets, it is also a well-known university where you can get a PhD.

Defense experts blame the case

According to Colonel Albef Gora, a security consultant and public analyst who told the Epoch Times in Abuja, the attack was “a humiliating incident on the face of the Nigerian army.”

Former Nigerian Army Colonel, who took action in Liberia and Sudan in the 90s, said: school. “

“The brave nature of the attack is like a man who confronts a moving train and runs away with it,” he added.

“It shows that anything is possible because security is so compromised under the current government,” he said.

“Nigeria’s defense structure needs a complete overhaul, and citizens have to wake up and speak,” he said.

International counterterrorism consultant David Otto told the Epoch Times that the incident represented a humiliating national security breach against a key agency training Nigerian elite troops.

“How would such a breach be stopped if the’unknown armed forces’ could invade around such a valuable target, assassinate military personnel, and successfully kidnap another? You have to ask the leadership command about what can happen without it, “he said.

“Without the cooperation and support of insiders, it’s difficult to understand that such a breach or attack could have occurred,” he added.

Kaduna School Targeted by Bandits

The Academy of Defense is just the latest in a series of bandit raids on the University of Kaduna. On March 11, 2021, armed men broke through the fence of Afaka’s Federal Forestry School near the NDA and kidnapped 39 students. They were held for 40 days until a ransom of US $ 160,000 was paid.

Eighteen miles from Kaduna on the main road to Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, Greenfield University was invaded by armed Fula bandits and kidnapped 20 students. To impose their demands, the kidnappers killed five students and were paid $ 400,000 after 42 days of imprisonment before being released.

About five miles east of Kaduna, Kujama’s Bethel Baptist Academy was invaded by armed Fula bandits and kidnapped 121 students. So far, 56 students have been released after the reported total of US $ 100,000 (100 million naira) has been paid. As of August 25, 65 school children were still with the kidnappers.

Past assault on barracks

Yesterday’s attack was not the first time in Kaduna that military barracks were attacked by “unknown” armed groups. In June of this year, Nigerian media reported that “unknown militants” had launched an attack at Army Barrack at Command Staff College in Igabi LGA, Kaduna. The attack took place around 2:00 am on June 23, 2021, and the attackers are said to have buzzed hundreds of cows belonging to the soldiers who served there.

President Muhammadu Buhari promised Nigerians Wednesday afternoon that the attack on the NDA would end the kidnapping and terrorism in Nigeria earlier than planned.

In the heart of the president’s special media adviser, Buhari, Femi Adesina said on August 25, “Attack on NDAs will put a decisive end to crime without weakening our military resolutions.” Signed the statement.

“The attacks launched at the Nigerian Academy of Defense (NDA) facility on Tuesday support their determination to decisively end the country’s crimes, rather than demoralize the troops as intended.” Said President Muhammad Buhari.