Kaduna Airport Wasn't Shut Down By Bandits, We Killed 12 Of Them – Military

The Nigerian military has spoken on the reported attack on the Kaduna International Airport by bandits.

According to the report, the attack happened six kilometres away from the terminal and outside the Airport perimeter fence.

The military said that 12 of the bandits, who were immediately given a hot chase, were killed through air strike.

Samuel Aruwan, Kaduna State Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Garrison Command 1 Division Nigerian Army, Brig-General Uriah Opuene and Air Force Base Commander, Air Commodore Ademuyiwa Adedoyin led journalists on an assessment tour of the scene of the attack.

Brig-General Opuene, while briefing newsmen, explained that the Kaduna International Airport is very secured, assuring that there are several layers of security at the Airport and that bandits could not have dared to attack it.

He stated that preliminary investigations revealed that the bandits were just passing through the back of the Airport towards Riyawa village, stressing that they sighted the security man engaged by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) to watch over their metrological equipment around the axis.

According to him, “As you can see, this place is about six kilometers away from the Airport terminal. The bandits were only passing behind the airport perimeter fence when they saw the security man engaged by NAMA and they fired at him. They just took advantage of that to pass a message.”

He explained that even the first layer was not breached.

“So, as you can see from the distance, the insinuation outside that the terrorists took over the Airport is not correct. If the terrorists had entered, they would have met us there,” he said.

Also speaking, Air Commodore Adedoyin, the NAF Base Commander also explained that security around the Airport general area had been beefed up since the security of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) was breached last year, adding that bandits don’t have the audacity to attack the Kaduna Airport.

He assured that the Airport is safe and secured, adding that the State Government was engaging citizens in communities around the Airport to scale up intelligence gathering.

He assured that there was no threat to the immediate vicinity of the Airport because the military were ahead of the bandits.