Those cast far away from its precincts used to think that the ‘fortress’ was impregnable.

But before the deadly attack by touted bandits on the military elite-training Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) on Tuesday at Kawo, Kaduna, neighbours did not suspect anything strange.

Now, shock and disbelief are trailing the attack by free-riding terrorists dressed in military camouflages who killed two officers, kidnapped one, and injured another who is now recuperating in an hospital.

They are demanding a ransom of N200 million to free the abducted major, Christopher Datong.

As usual, reactions came in torrents, including those from the military top brass and the NDA itself.

In its apparently dazed response, the NDA, in a statement, said it would hunt down the ‘bandits’.

Then came other responses from Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Lt.-Gen. Lucky Irabor, retired Maj-Gen. Ishola Williams, in those cadres, and the government of the incident state, Kaduna, later.

Apart from comments from a broad spectrum of the Nigerian society, the usual how-did-we-get-here questions were also darted from the camps of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), and a veritable witness of the attack, Col. Samuel Agbede, a former president of the Yoruba Council of Elders, YCE.

Agbede submitted that the attack was not only worrisome, but a frightening development.

The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) described what it called the ‘security compromise’ of the NDA at Afaka by gunmen as a worrisome dimension to insecurity in the country’’.

It called on the government at all levels to be more proactive and creative in tackling insecurity, and also in carrying out their constitutional duty of securing life and property in the country.

According to reports, some ‘bandits’ had broken into the military university around 1:25am on the fateful date, shot sporadically, and made for the officers’ quarters to abduct personnel, all officers.

Recall that the NDA was established on February 5, 1964, in response to the defence needs of an independent Nigeria.

It had the mandate of training officers for the armed forces, from the ashes of its predecessors, the Royal Military Forces Training College (RMFTC) and Nigerian Military Training College (NMTC).

Perhaps, if the officers and men of the elite institution had taken to heart the words of Brigadier-General E.E. Emeka on July 9, 2021, to remain focused, disciplined and law-abiding cadets of the Dalet and Mogadishu battalions, at a regimental dinner night in Abuja, no soldier would have been ‘sleeping’ on duty , instead of monitoring CCTV mounted to check marauders.

We need not emphasise that the attack on NDA represents nothing than a national embarrassment.

A retired general captured the mood more, saying, “no place is safe anymore (in Nigeria)’’. CDS Lucky Irabor bemoaned, “This madness must end”.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who received the bad news from a close range of his son’s wedding, vowed that the attack would not discourage officers of the armed forces in their fight against criminality.

A presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, described the attack as an ‘opportunistic crime’.

This paper has had causes, since inception, to draw attention to the needless carnage being perpetrated by terrorists of different shades in the country.

And the powers-that-be have perfected that act of ranking such socially undesirable elements – from ‘Boko Haram’ to ‘insurgents’, ‘bandits’ to ‘unknown gunmen’.

Some high-wire questions are left in the wake of the latest act of derring-do.

Commentators like Gen. Ishola Williams, an ex-Defence chief, wants the politicians to carry the can of blame for the attack.

Warning that a revolution loomed large in the horizon, especially in the north, he also accused the Buhari administration of ‘filing away’ the report of military inquiry into those kinds of incursions.

The ex-general, who was once a former Chief of Operations (CTOP) at the Defence Headquarters, while analysing the situation under which the military is now operating, and the roles of blamed the ‘political authorities’ for making military establishments objects of attack by armed non-state actors.

He said what happened in the NDA could be matched with what people, in the local parlance, call a breach of local security in the institution, by ‘familiar’ characters.

Kaduna, he argued, is known for kidnapping, not terrorism, but observed that the under-belly of what is recently happening in Kaduna, Zamfara and Niger states, are manifestations of terrorism.
Issues of personnel and facilities also need the periscope.

According to Williams, “Even at checkpoints, you see them sitting carelessly. The only one of them carrying a gun will be walking aimlessly, meaning they are not on (the) alert.”

It has become noticeable that CCTV alone is not enough to curb security breaches. Military experts say there is also the need for ‘cover-up’ patrols.

Human patrol, they emphasise, complements the CCTV in checking crimes.

In the NDA incident, a retired general noted that a duty officer was supposed to have been checking throughout the night to ensure all the security systems were in place and on the alert. That was probably ignored.

“In a place like Kaduna, it should not be only one. There should be another senior officer to be reported to. He can now mobilise any platoon or troop they have to be able to trail that sort of breach. They may have an arrangement for that, but one doesn’t know.’’

We are not in the know to join the fray of the forces clamouring that the CDS or commandant of NDA should resign now.

No matter what, there is no doubt that the incident has seriously blighted the integrity of the whole security hierarchy of Nigeria.

The integrity of the nation has been called to question once again.

2 arrested over assault on EEDC officials

Like they say in the military circle, there are no bad soldiers, but bad officers; they are the one to carry the can of such calamities.

The incident has also affected the integrity of the commander-in-chief to the last person in the military.

Apart from the local challenges posed by such acts of terror, there is an international dimension; that of the countries looking up to Nigeria, especially at the sub-regional and regional levels, to contain sundry acts of disruptive militancy.

And so, we submit that there should be an enquiry to fish out those culpable for punishment.
There is also need for more diligence and commitment in our military establishments to rout the confidence of the bandits and criminals.

In other climes, military sources say the commandant would have resigned, and others either court-martialled, or given appropriate punishments for the ‘gross act of negligence’.

And, to cap it all, the Presidency must not only tough talk. Take more action to contain our security challenges!