The Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor, has dismissed the August attack on the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) in Kaduna by bandits as simply armed robbery, stating that the NDA was just like any other ordinary school in the country.

“The attack on the NDA is what I would likely describe as an armed robbery attack of any unsuspecting individual,” Mr Irabo said on RadioNow’s Urgent Conversation, published on the programme’s Facebook page on Friday and monitored by Peoples Gazette.

He added that the army has always been under attack from bandits, terrorists in the North-East and North-West or by unknown gunmen in the South-East.

Asked if Nigerians should have confidence in the military securing the country when bandits succeeded in raiding an institution of the military, Mr Irabor admitted that bandits attack on the NDA was embarrassing but said the NDA is just like any ordinary school in Nigeria.

“In any case, that is a training institution. That it is called Nigeria Defence Academy or military academy does not mean that it is not the same as any other school,” Mr Irabor said.

He added, “Of course, I was embarrassed that we did not foresee such a threat. NDA is not a place we think that we should fortify to such a level that the liberty that is required to be able to emplace the level of leadership, learning and skills are lost.”

Peoples Gazette had in August reported how bandits raided the NDA, killing two and abducting three persons. Those abducted were released days later.