Army kicks civilians out of barracks

Chief of Army Staff, Lt.Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika

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

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

Also 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.

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

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

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.

He had said 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.