The fire occurred on the second floor of the DHQ building, the cause of which is unknown.
Major General Jimmy Akpor, Director of Defence Information, confirmed the incident.
The incident was brought under control, according to Akpor, with the help of military and Federal Fire Service personnel and resources.
He also stated that there were no injuries or fatalities in the Monday incident.
Akpor stated that an investigation has begun to determine the cause of the fire incident.
He said, “A minor fire incident occurred on the second floor of the Defence Headquarters, Garki Abuja this afternoon 12 December 2022. The cause of the fire outbreak is unknown at this moment.
“However, the incident has been brought under control with the combined effort of the military and Federal Fire Service personnel and resources. All personnel and civilian staff were also evacuated without injury or loss of life.
“Accordingly, normalcy has returned. Investigation to determine the cause of the fire incident commenced immediately.
“We thank the Federal Fire Service and the entire public for the continued support and goodwill to the Armed Forces of Nigeria”
Another indicting report
Meanwhile, Reuters published another report on Monday accusing the Nigerian Army of carrying out a massacre of children during the ongoing war on terrorism.
The report, according to the organisation, is based on the revelations of more than 40 soldiers and civilians who claim to have witnessed the Nigerian military killing children or seeing children’s corpses after a military operation.
According to the report, the Army killed thousands of children, and it investigated six of the incidents in which at least 60 people died.
One of the victims claimed in the report that her children were killed because they belonged to terrorists.
The report read, “The massacre, previously unreported, is just one instance in which the Nigerian Army and allied security forces have slaughtered children during their gruelling 13-year war against Islamist extremists in the country’s northeast, a Reuters investigation found.
“Soldiers and armed guards employed by the government told Reuters that Army commanders repeatedly ordered them to ‘delete’ children because the children were assumed to be collaborating with militants in Boko Haram or its Islamic State offshoot or to have inherited the tainted blood of insurgent fathers.
“More than 40 sources said they saw the Nigerian military target and kill children or saw the dead bodies of children after a military operation. These sources included both parents and other civilian witnesses, as well as soldiers who said they participated in dozens of military operations in which children were slaughtered.
Together, their estimates added up to thousands of children killed.”
