Armed Forces remembrance day held amid tight security

Posted by admin Headlines Saturday, January 15th, 2011

AMID tight security, President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday led top government officials in the country to conduct the wreath-laying ceremony in honour of the departed men of the Armed Forces as part of the 2011 Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration in Abuja.

Curiously, the President, his deputy, Alhaji Namadi Sambo; Senate President, Dr. David Mark; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole; Minister of Defence, Mr. Adetokunbo Kayode (SAN); Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin; service chiefs, Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim, did not make any comment in accordance with the tradition of the ceremony.

However, recent incident of bombings in the Federal Capital Territory took its toll on the celebrations, as security operatives cordoned off the Three Arms Zone and all major roads leading to the Cenotaph, opposite Federal Secretariat where the event held.

The security situation was such that operatives also screened all personal and official vehicles of top military officers and even official vehicles of the Defence headquarters with bomb detectors before letting them into the arena.

Our correspondent observed that the colourful event was witnessed by top government officials, their aides, the military high command, security operatives, some clerics, a few traditional rulers, some wives of top army, naval air force and police officers and defence correspondents.

The members of the public did not have the opportunity to add colour to the event with their presence as they were screened out because of the emergent security challenges in Abuja.

Throughout the occasion, an Air Force Hellicopter was seen hovering above the arena to beef up security in the area.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Nigerian Legion, Col Micah Gayya (retd), called attention to the plight of his members.

He said the ceremony was organised to celebrate the dead stressing that it was also necessary to remember those that were still alive.

Gayya called on the President to make adequate funds available to the Nigerian Legion in order to enable it to achieve its set objectives of taking care of the needs of the ex-servicemen.

He urged the President to grant the legion an annual subvention or a takeoff grant, which according to him, could be utilized to handle issues affecting the members.

The Commissioner for Peace and Security in the African Union, Amb. Ramtane Lamara, said that the event was of significance to the AU as the departed heroes sacrificed their lives for the peace and freedom of the continent.

He also said that the AU appreciated the “exemplary way in which Nigeria serves Africa and humanity in promoting peace and stability throughout the world.”

The AU Commissioner, who also spoke on the political conflict in Cote d’ Ivoire between sit-tight President Laurent Gbagbo and acclaimed winner of the Ivorian Presidential poll, Al Hassan Ouatarra, said the AU was collaborating with the Economic Community of West African States to find an ‘African solution’ to the raging issue.

He said the AU had called for a summit of its Peace and Security Council in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on January 28 to seek a peaceful solution to the crisis.

Lamara, who said ECOWAS leaders would embark on missions to the UN security council and others, said that the planned military option would be a lost option.

In a related development, the Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko on Saturday, pledged to support widows and dependant relatives of the nation’s fallen heroes.

Mimiko, who spoke at the Alagbaka Cenotaph in Akure, said he hoped to particularly empower the widows through soft loans from the state’s Micro-Credit Loan Scheme.

Those who laid the wreaths were the Commanding Officer, 323 Artillery Regiment of the Nigerian Army, Akure, Lt Col. Sam Nwafor; Commander, Forward Operations Base, Nigerian Navy, Igbokoda, Navy Captain Idris Saleh; and the Commissioner of Police, Mrs Cynthia Amajor-Onu.

Others were the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Samuel Adesina; the state Chief Judge, Justice Olasehinde Kumuyi; and the Chairman of the state chapter of the Nigerian Legion, Major Vincent Abiola (retd).

-Punchwp_posts