stir during the wreath laying ceremony for the Armed
Forces Remembrance Day Celebrations by President
Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja on Thursday.
The guard, who was part of the two columns of
soldiers drafted to form the firing party for the event,
was seen fidgeting with his gun which got stuck in the
back of his belt.
In the process, the nozzle of the gun lowered,
prompting two members of the Presidential Guard,
who were standing behind the President's Aide-de-
Camp, who felt he had a negative intention, to form a
human shield around the President.
Another officer, believed to be a member of the
Presidential Guard, quickly moved to pull the soldier
from the column, but had a rethink after explanations
by the soldier about his problem.
The Presidential Guard then assisted the soldier to
release the rope attached to the butt of the gun from
his uniform.
However, the President, who was in the middle of the
two rows of the firing party in front of the Monument
of the Unknown Soldier, was not ruffled by the
incident .
After the stir which occurred on the third and last
round of the shooting of the 21-gun salute later,
Jonathan freed the traditional white pigeons from a
huge cage at the cenotaph.
He later signed the 2015 Register for celebrations.
It was learnt that the bullets usually used for the
traditional military ceremony are blank bullets which
lack the capacity to inflict injuries.
Our correspondent also gathered that the officers in
charge of the ceremony normally embarked on a
holistic weeding process and psychological screening
of those to take part in that aspect of the ceremony.
The event which held at the cenotaph opposite the
Eagle Square at the Central Area, was attended by the
top echelons of the security forces and government
officials.
Among those who also laid wreaths were Vice-
President Namadi Sambo; the President of
the Senate, David Mark; and the Deputy Speaker of
the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, who
represented the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal.
Others were the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mahmud
Mohammed; the Minister of Defence, Gen. Aliyu
Gusau; the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal
Alex Badeh; the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth
Minimah; the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Usman
Jibrin; the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola
Amosu; the Doyen of the Diplomatic community
and the Chairman of the Nigerian Legion, Micah
Gayya.
Security personnel conducted painstaking searches
on workers whose offices are located in the three-
arms zone before allowing them in.
The security operatives locked down the two major
roads in the Three-Arms Zone – Ahmadu Bello and
Shehu Shagari ways – to prevent vehicles from passing
through the cenotaph while the event lasted.
A planned protest by the Ex-Service men Welfare
Association did not take place as the event held
smoothly without any interruption or disruption.
Meanwhile, the Presidential Committee set up to
review the National Defence Policy has concluded
arrangements to hold public presentations in three
states.
The Chairman of the Committee, Mohammed Umaru,
said during a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday, that
the event scheduled for Lagos, Kaduna and Enugu,
would hold simultaneously from January 21 to 22 .
Umaru said that the decision to open public hearing
on NDP was informed by a need to have many
Nigerians contribute to the policy.
Jonathan had inaugurated the committee on
November 20, 2014 to review the policy because of
the social, economic and security changes that have
taken place in the country.
He said that external developments and challenges in
the global arena had direct impact on the nation's
security and national defence.
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