MILITARY TO CLEAR BARRACKS OF ILLEGAL OCUPANTS

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, said on Thursday that the Nigerian military has commenced the mass eviction of civilians from barracks across the country.

The eviction of non-soldiers from barracks is coming on the heels of two successful attacks  by suspected terrorists this week.

Two car bombers had on Sunday struck at the St. Andrew Military Protestant Church inside the prestigious Armed Forces Command and Staff College,  in Jaji, near Kaduna. The college  houses the officers and men of the Infantry Centre and School as well as  the Nigerian Army Peace Keeping Centre .

Similarly on Monday, gunmen, numbering 40, launched an attack on the office of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Abuja, where suspects were being held. Two policemen and one of the gunmen were killed in the incident.

At the closing of the Chief of Army Staff Annual Conference in Asaba, Delta State, Ihejirika said he had already issued a directive to commanders in charge of military formations to take immediate action against illegal occupants.

 The COAS also warned that the leadership of the Army would ensure that reported lapses were treated decisively.

 He said, “That one (purging the barracks of illegal occupants) is obvious. I have already informed the commanders and they know. The commanders would not wait for the Chief of Army Staff before taking action. Rather, from next week, I want to see action in respect of illegal squatters and similar things.”

The Commander in charge of Army Engineering, Maj. Gen. Olaniyi, who took the last presentation at the conference, had called attention to the fact that barracks being rehabilitated were accommodating a large number of civilians in places like the Ikeja Cantonment and Asaba.

Olaniyi, who said that the Ojo Cantonment had become haven for criminals, warned that unless decisive steps were taken, even foreigners would be more than soldiers in some rehabilitated barracks; adding that that the number of civilians living in the cantonment was even more than that of soldiers.

Ihejirika insisted that the bombing at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College was avoidable, stressing that absence a perimeter fence did not offer any commander an excuse to allow such an  incident to happen.

He said that about 80 of the barracks in the country had not been fenced and urged the commanders to put in their best in the area of intelligence gathering and security maintenance.