Calm Returns to Maiduguri Airport after Soldiers’ Protest

Senator Iroegbu in Abuja

The Nigerian military said calm had returned to the Maiduguri International Airport after the protest by some soldiers on Sunday night.

The Deputy Director Public Relations, Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, in a statement Monday, said the Theatre Command Operation Lafiya Dole “witnessed a riotous reaction from a few unscrupulous troops while conducting a redeployment of troops who are currently deployed at the Maiduguri Airport, following a directive to review troops’ deployment in Maiduguri metropolis in a bid to reinvigorate the security architecture of the city”.

Nwachukwu said the redeployment became expedient after a recent assessment of the security situation by the Theatre Command.

Regrettably however, he said, a few of the troops who had misunderstood the development and erroneously assumed it was going to negatively affect their rotation from the theatre of operation became agitated and reacted by firing into the air.

He assured that “calm has however been restored, as the Theatre Commander, Major General Abba Dikko, has promptly taken charge of the situation after addressing and admonishing the troops”.

Nwachukwu said the Theatre Command considered the protest an ugly incident and quite regrettable, adding that appropriate measures were being taken to forestall a recurrence.

He urged members of the public to remain calm and go about their normal activities as the situation had been put under firm control.