Molly Kilete, Abuja
There is tension in Abuja following mesages circulating on the social media of Plans by soldiers to block the Kubwa highway and the Abuja/keffi road from Monday as they embark on a routine endurance walk.
Some Residents of the Federal Capital Territory(FCT), woke up Sunday morning with text messages and WhatsApp on their mobile phones alerting them especially those living around Kubwa, Nyanya, Masaka, and Keffi axis to avoid these routes as the roads would be blocked by the soldiers.
As a result, residents of these areas have decided to stay indoors so as not to be caught in any unforeseen circumstance.
The text messages received by some residents obtained by Daily Sun reads; “I have received information from one of the officers of the armed forces that on Monday 7th February, 2022; the military will be having a routine of endurance trekking in Abuja city, between Mugadishu barracks and kubwa express way. In view of this, Nyanya – AYA road and kubwa express way will be blocked as from 6:00am on Monday. Therefore, our colleagues from Masaka -Mararaba axis should endeavor to leave home in time to the office to avoid hold-ups on Monday. Thanks”.
But in a swift reaction, the Defence Headquarters(DHQ), say there is no cause for alarm and called on residents not to panic and go about their lawful businesses.
The Director Defence Information, Major General Jerry Akpor, who made this known said the soldiers were embarking on an endurance trek which is a routine exercise aimed at testing their physical and combat fitness.
Akpor, in a telephone interview with Daily SUN, Sunday night, said there was no truth in the report that soldiers would block the express way but said they would use part of the road for the duration of the exercise.
He said “it’s part of annual physical training test to confirm the physical fitness of every personnel for the tasking job of soldiering in the year. They have to do push-up, sit-up, heaving and at the end of it, everybody does endurance trek over some twenty, thirty kilometers to confirm their fitness.
So it’s part and parcel of military training.
We are not going to block the roads as it is being speculated. We take part of the road, it is a dual carriage road so there will still be traffic only that part of the road would be taken so to speak so people should not panic because there is nothing to panic about, it is a routine exercise in the military and it will not last for too long”. He said.