The Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral
Olasa’ad Ibrahim, has said that due process will be followed in
meting out punishment to soldiers on duty when suicide bombers
attacked the military church in Jaji on Sunday
Ibrahim, who was in Kaduna on
Tuesday, noted that the board set up to investigate the twin
attacks would spell out the appropriate punishment.
He described the incident as
sad and pointed out that the military would put some mechanism in
place to forestall future occurrence.
The CDS, who spoke with newsmen
shortly after visiting the scene, argued that the explosions
were least expected.
He said, “We expect that the Board of
Enquiry will reflect blame worthiness of the few and then we will treat it on
its merit, but we cannot pre-empt what took place and how the bomb-laden
vehicles got into the cantonment.
“We also respect due process
and the rule of law and there are codes out there that we must insist on
because those are the only ways we can render justice but the report itself is
the only thing that can define precisely who is to blame and who is not to be
blamed and who is to be rewarded for exemplary actions.
“Perhaps with the lesson now, we
could not afford to take anything for granted. So, we will put it behind us
quickly after the board of inquiry and then we will put some other mechanisms
in place to prevent such incident in the future.”