On Tuesday, the foremost military school, the Nigerian Defence Academy in Kaduna, was attacked by supposed bandits. The media reported that those attackers killed two officers, abducted one, demanded a ransom of N200m for his release. Officially, he is still considered missing. Other details are still sketchy for now, but it seems that the attack occurred at midnight while people were asleep and while the CCTV cameras were left un-surveilled by officers who had probably fallen asleep too. The perpetrators reportedly made their way into the NDA premises camouflaged in military fatigues, overpowered the guards, and headed for the officers’ quarters.
The presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu who described the incident as “sad and disturbing” has also said that the recent attack on the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) might be a ploy to embarrass the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. He noted that many scenarios are being painted on the circumstances that led to the incident.
He said the incident might be designed by those who want to embarrass this current administration, in the wake of the “major successes” achieved by the military in the fight against insurgency and banditry.
“The president has denounced it. He is not happy about it. It is now left for the military authorities to thoroughly investigate this and bring out what happened,” he said “we are coming from major successes. Look at how Boko Haram is unravelling in the north; they surrendered. All of the victories that have been recorded even in the northwest — these bandits are being taken out in large numbers.
This development has raised concerns on the rising insecurity in the country as the said incident may also be politically motivated.”
Could this be truly a criminal attempt to violate the sanctity of that military institution? Was this an opportunistic crime? Is it political? Does somebody want to embarrass the government by doing this?