Last Sunday’s twin-bomb explosions at St. Andrew’s Protestant Church at the Jaji Military Cantonment, Kaduna, has led to the removal of the heads of the two institutions located in there.
No fewer than 17 persons were confirmed dead from the suicide bomb attacks, while scores of others were injured.?
The Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim, who wielded the big stick yesterday, ordered the removal of Air Marshal I.A. Kure as Commandant of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC).
In a statement issued yesterday in Abuja by the Defence Headquarters and signed by the Director, Defence Information, Col. Mohammed M. Yerima, Air Vice Marshal E.E. Osim replaces Air Vice Marshal Kure, while Maj-Gen K.C. Osuji will act as Corps Commander, Infantry, Jaji. Osuji takes over from Maj-Gen. M.D. Isa.?
The development may have been prompted by the embarrassment the attacks caused the military.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Onyeabo Azubike Ihejirika did not hide his disappointment over the obvious security lapses when he spoke on the incident at the just-concluded Chief of Army Staff Conference held in Asaba, Delta State last week.
Already, Ihejirika has set up a panel to probe the bombing.
Both AVM Kure and Maj-Gen Isa will be redeployed by the Air Force and the Army respectively.
The statement reads: ‘‘Following the Board of Inquiry raised by the Defence Headquarters to unravel the circumstances that led to the bomb explosion, which rocked St. Andrew’s Protestant Church at the Jaji Military Cantonment in Kaduna State last week, the Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral O.S. Ibrahim has directed the Services Headquarters to replace with immediate effect the Commandant, Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC) Jaji, Air Vice Marshal I.A. Kure and the Corps Commander, Infantry also located in Jaji, Maj.Gen. M.D. Isa.”