“Nigerian Defence Academy is not a place where we could think that we should fortify to such a level that liberty that is required to be able to emplace the level of leadership learning and skills will be lost,” he said during a programme – RadioNow’s Urgent Conversations – aired on Channels Television on Friday.

“But that, of course, is a lesson we have factored, and it does not in any way dampen the preparedness of the Armed Forces of Nigeria to what it should. And it does not in any way speak to our weakness and our inability to defend the nation”.

The academy was attacked by bandits in August, resulting in the abduction of one officer and the death of two others.

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 top source at the DIA told the Nigerian Tribune that the former Navy commander arrived at the agency’s office in the company of his lawyers on Tuesday.

“Navy Commodore Kunle Olawunmi has arrived at the military DIA in Abuja. He was accompanied by his lawyers,” the source said.

It was gathered that two human rights lawyers, Femi Falana (SAN) and Abubakar Marshall accompanied Olawunmi to the Abuja headquarters of the DIA.

It would recall that the Defence Intelligence Agency had invited Olawunmi for an interactive session for exposing in an interview how President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration refused to probe high profile politicians whom Boko Haram terrorists named as their sponsors.

The DIA had asked Olawunmi to come to its headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday with his international passport.

The professor of Global Security Studies had said, “It is an aberration; you don’t attack the Nigerian Defence Academy and get away with it. In 2017, I carried out an investigation by the Minister of Defence that wanted me to check what was going on with the training and the security there (NDA). I remember I spent about a week in the NDA with the commandant and the staff but something struck me: every Friday, the gate of NDA is thrown open and everybody has access to pray in the mosque.

“On Fridays, you are going to see the same thing happening across all military formations in the country. If you go to Defence Headquarters, I served at the Defence Headquarters as the Deputy Director, Defence Administration, between 2015 and 2017, throughout my two years at Defence Headquarters, I received visitors twice because of the strict security architecture there. But every Friday, the gate of the Defence Headquarters is thrown wide open for everybody to come in and observe Juma’at.

“That is the time the terrorists have the time to profile our security environment. It has always been the case. I have served the military intelligence for the past 35 years. Our problem is religion and socio-cultural.”

Olawunmi had added that he was a member of the Intelligence Brief at the Defence Headquarters during the leadership of the then Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen Abayomi Olonisakin (retd).

The intelligence expert said he told the then CDS that the centre of gravity of the Boko Haram insurgency ravaging the North-East and spreading to other parts of Nigeria was the sponsor.

According to him, “I told General Olonisakin then that the centre of this problem cannot be solved the same way we solved the problem of the Niger Delta. The Niger Delta problem was solved during (Ex-President Umaru) Yar’Adua basically by me and I told them that we can’t use that same template for Boko Haram

“I told General Olonisakin to look at the centre of gravity of the problem. I was made a member of the committee in 2016-2017 including former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru that died.

“I told them that the centre of gravity of Boko Haram in Nigeria is the sponsors of the programme. It was beyond us because the job we needed to do was kinetic, but we cannot resolve the issues of sponsors of Boko Haram that were in Buhari’s government; that we know them. That was why we couldn’t pursue that aspect that could have resolved the issue because we need to arrest people.

“Recently, 400 people were gathered as sponsors of Boko Haram, why is it that the Buhari government has refused to try them? Why can’t this government bring them to trial if not that they are partisan and part of the charade that is going on?

“You remember this Boko Haram issue started in 2012 and I was in the military intelligence at that time. We arrested those people. My organisation conducted interrogation and they (suspects) mentioned names. I can’t come on air and start mentioning names of people that are presently in government that I know that the boys that we arrested mentioned. Some of them are governors now, some of them are in the Senate, some of them are in Aso Rock.

“Why should a government decide to cause this kind of embarrassment and insecurity to the sense of what happened yesterday (Tuesday at the NDA)?”

Olawunmi had also said that the Department of State Services had tremendous information on terrorists but they could not do anything except by the body language of the Commander-In-Chief.

Efforts to speak with the spokesperson of the agency, Major A Ojolowo, on the matter, proved abortive as his telephone line was switched off.

Speaking with reporters on Tuesday in Yola, he described the attack carried out by bandits as madness that must be stopped as soon as possible.

“The incident in Kaduna, of course, has been undertaken by bandits, but it is more of an armed robber coming to your house,” said General Irabor who was in Adamawa State to meet with retired senior military officers in the north-east region.

“The infiltration did not come by virtue of the normal banditry action, but these are things we are already looking at and in due course, you will get the details.

“Any form of insecurity is a cause for worry for anyone and that is why for us, we are more determined that this madness must be brought to an end very speedily.”

‘Everyone Will Be Happy Again’

The CDS, Speaking about the insurgency in the North East, thanked the residents for genuinely supporting the ongoing intensive clearance operations by troops towards the restoration of permanent peace in the zone.

General Irabor stressed that the solutions to the security challenges in the North East lie in the region, with hopes that the situation will get better in the days ahead.

He equally allayed the fears of Nigerians on the ongoing mass surrendering of Boko Haram and Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) ex-fighters to the military.

The general encouraged Nigerians and residents  to trust the relevant agencies that have been tasked with the responsibilities of planning the rehabilitation of repented insurgents.

Speaking, the CDS said that the military will deal with the matter for the good of the region as there will be no loose ends.

He encouraged the military veterans to take full advantage of the security parley in evaluating the various military operations, saying their patriotic and constructive assessment of the general security situation would add value to the ongoing clearance operations.

“What remains very clear is the desire and will of the AFN to speedily turn around the fortune of the North East to a state where everyone will be happy again,” the CDS said.