The Nigeria Navy, NNS Jubilee, in Ikot Abasi, has banned residents from building a storey building opposite its base.

The Base Operation Officer, Morgan Etuk, disclosed this on Thursday while speaking with journalists on the complaint by a church of incessant harassment and disruptions of the church’s project work opposite the base.

Mr Etuk said the military establishment must have a buffer zone.

A medical doctor and member of the church, Inemesit Ekanem, had alleged in a statement that the disruption and harassment by NNS Jubilee had impeded the progress of the church’s building.

Mr Etuk said when the church workers came to the site on March 12, one of the base officers told them of the need for a roundtable discussion, which they ignored.

He added that the base had a dialogue with the church’s leadership about four times on the need to relocate the structure away from opposite the base’s entrance.

“If you check our security architecture, you will see drums and sentries stationed all over the place. These are some of the things we use to protect this place. Coming to erect that structure, which they said is even a storey building, somebody can go there and use it as an observation post to monitor what is happening inside the base,” explained the military officer.

He added, “As a pastor, you will not tell me categorically hundred per cent that the members don’t have any criminal tendencies or intentions. You heard about how criminals go about attacking military zones, killing personnel and carting away weapons, so we have to secure our base.”

Mr Etuk insisted that the navy would not “sit down and allow a structure erected in front of us which we know full well that it might become a security threat to us.”

Mr Etuk denied the allegation that naval officers beat up the church workers.

He said the base had no power to give any approvals or authorisation for anyone to erect a structure, except the Office of the National Security Adviser.

(NAN)