Officers, Civilian Personnel Evacuated As Fire Guts Defence Headquarters

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) in Abuja was gutted by fire at about 1 pm on Monday, but there was no casualty.

A senior officer at the headquarter confirmed that the fire incident occurred on the second floor of the building, but personnel at the Federal Fire Service immediately resolved the issue.

“The fire outbreak is not a major incident and you know we are neighbours to the Federal Fire Service, so they have handled it. Many officers in the building did not even know about it because it happened about three hours ago”.

Major General Jimmy Akpor, Director, of Defence Information on his part, said the cause of the fire outbreak is still unknown as of press time.

He said, “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.”