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The Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Lucky Irabor, has revealed that he was embarrassed that the Nigerian Army did not foresee the August attack on the Nigerian Defence Academy in Kaduna by bandits.
The revelation came on Friday when he spoke on Radio Now 95.3FM’s programme, Urgent Conversations.
Irabor stated that the NDA was just like any normal school, so the Army did not see a need to give it any special fortification.
He said, “That is a training institution. That it is called Nigeria Defence Academy or military academy does not mean that it is not the same as any other school. Of course, I was embarrassed that we did not foresee such a threat.
“The NDA is not a place we think that we should fortify to such a level that the liberty that is required to be able to emplace the level of leadership, learning, and skills are lost.”
The bandits who attacked the Academy in August killed two officers and abducted a Major. This raised concerns among Nigerians regarding the military’s ability to effectively carry out their duty in defending the country.
However, the CDS dismissed those concerns noting that the Army was always under attack, describing the attack on the NDA as a robbery attack.
Irabor added that the incident did not dampen the morale of the Armed Forces since they are still capable of defending the country.
“Have we not been under attack? That an attack happened at the NDA does not imply that we are not under attack on a daily basis. Do you know how many of the attacks that we have had to ward off?” he asked.
“The troops in the frontline, the terrorist elements, who are they attacking? Even in the South-East, who have they attacked? Police and military. The attack on the NDA is what I would likely describe as an armed robbery attack of any unsuspecting individual.
“But that, of course, is a lesson we have factored, and it does not in any way dampen the preparedness of the Armed Forces of Nigeria to what it should. And it does not in any way speak to our weakness and our inability to defend the nation,” Irabor added.
