The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Lucky Irabor has smelt a rat in the attack on Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA) by suspected bandits earlier on Tuesday, suspecting an inside collaborator’s job.
Reacting to the early hour’s attack on NDA that led to the death of one Officer and the abduction of a Major, Irabor described the incident as worrisome and the military is looking into it with keen interest, adding that the attack is like robbers entering a house with the knowledge of an insider.
The bandits attacked the permanent site of the Nigerian Defence Academy in Kaduna State, killing two officers and abducting one Major.
The Spokesman for the academy in the state Major Bashir Muhd Jajira confirmed that the incident occurred in the early hours of Tuesday.
“The security architecture of the Nigerian Defence Academy was compromised early this morning by unknown gunmen,” Jajira said in a statement.
“We lost two personnel and one was abducted.”
The bandits who came in a vehicle were said to have passed through the security gate into the academy, disguised in military uniforms, after which they proceeded to the officers’ quarters.
On arrival, they began shooting sporadically and in the process, killed two officers (a Major and a Squadron Leader), and later on, took another Major away through the nearby bush inside the academy.
The sound of the gunfire, however, alerted the troops of the NDA Quick Response Team, who arrived at the scene, but were unable to rescue the kidnapped officer as the bandits were already gone with the victim.
A combined team of security operatives has now launched a manhunt of the bandits inside the bush including air surveillance with a view to arresting them and rescuing the kidnapped officer.
The Nigerian Defence Academy is located few metres away from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization Afaka, in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State, where 39 students were abducted by bandits in March.