Major Christopher Datong, who was kidnapped by daring bandits around 1 am on July 24 has spent one full week in his captors’ den, raising concerns about the safety of ordinary, vulnerable Nigerians.

Datong was kidnapped when the marauders, last Tuesday, invaded the country’s foremost military institution, the Nigerian Defence Academy, Afaka, Kaduna, killing two officers – identified as Lieutenant Wulah and Flight Lieutenant Okoronkwo.

The nation was shocked to wake up to a new level of effrontery by gunmen, who wore army uniforms and attacked the NDA campus in the Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

The bandits, who broke the fence of the institution, had headed in different parts of the premises and caught the officers on duty off guard.

Two officers lost their lives in the attack while the fate of the kidnapped officer delicately hangs in the balance.

Online reports have it that the bandits have contacted the family of Datong and have demanded some millions of naira as ransom but The PUNCH could not confirm the development as of the time of filing this report.

Speaking with The PUNCH on Tuesday, Director, Defence Information, Major General Benjamin Sawyerr, said search and rescue operations are being conducted to rescue the kidnapped officer.

“Operations are being conducted to search and rescue him. The operation is still ongoing. Search and rescue operations does not have a timeline and there is no point discussing how far the operations have gone because it will jeopardise secrecy and the efforts of those conducting the operations,” Sawyerr told our correspondent.

Also, a retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Austin Iwar, told The PUNCH that he believed the military would rescue the kidnapped officer.

He, however, said the NDA invasion showed that the whole country is exposed.

“It reveals the level of vulnerability that the entire country is exposed to, not only barracks or security formations but including our private homes and residential areas that the bandits have decided to attack because nobody in his wildest imagination will ever expect that bandits will have the temerity to attack military formations.

“The bandits have seen that there are soft spots that could exploit in NDA. And anybody that stood on the way was shot. It is very unfortunate that we are losing officers. But I believe that the military is up to the task, they have proved several times they can handle it even though sometimes it looks overwhelming but I believe they will rescue the kidnapped military officer.

“One of the lessons here is that we should not assume that because we are military personnel, we should not assume that we are not vulnerable. A criminal always exploits opportunities,” Iwar told our correspondent.

Following Tuesday’s attack, many Nigerians had taken to social media to expressed deep anger at the affront by bandits, who have become emboldened in their attacks against the military after shooting down a Nigerian Air Force jet earlier in July.

culled from PUNCH