- Nigeria's security chief, Air Marshal
Sadique Baba Abubakar, is appealing to
the British military to come to the aid of
his men
- Baba Abubakar wants training of officers
because there are threats that bases of the
Nigerian Air Force could be targets for
terrorists
Nigeria’s Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air
Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar, is
reportedly raising a new alarm saying
that the organisation’s bases in the
country are under threat.
His alarm is coming days after the
Nigerian Army warned its men against
a possible nocturnal relationship with
some politicians who plan to scuttle the
nation’s democracy.
Abubakar is thus asking the British
Military Assistant Team to help train
Nigerian Air Force personnel on how to
secure its bases and equipment.
Nigeria's Chief of Air Staff
raises new fears just days
after coup scare
Nigeria's Chief of Air Staff Abubakar expressed
fears of terror attacks on bases
Vanguard reports that while speaking at
the Base Defence Planning Retreat at
Air Force Base, Kaduna on Thursday,
May 25, Abubakar urged officers and
men of the organisation to be vigilant.
“We have had an attack on one of our
airbases in the recent past, and current
intelligence reports keep highlighting the
possibility of attacks on our bases.
“Given the importance of bases in the
airpower delivery matrix, it is not
inconceivable to expect our adversaries
to target our bases.

“The evolving security environment
globally and, indeed, our nation has
become complex and most times
unpredictable.
“We are faced with a myriad of security
challenges, ranging from terrorism to
militancy, kidnapping to economic
sabotage.
“On assumption of office and with the
need to develop a robust base defence
concept in view, we carried out a review
of the then base defence concept,” the air
chief said.

“The conclusion was that the erstwhile
base defence concept, with its emphasis
on emplacing static guards at identified
key and vulnerable points, was no longer
tenable and sufficient to respond to our
contemporary threats,” he added.
According to him, the Air Force has
introduced a new base defence concept
and this is premised on the
development and deployment of an air-
minded ground defence force, trained
and equipped as special light infantry
and capable of operating both inside
and outside the base perimeter against
contemporary threats.

He said: “The facilities we just
commissioned are supposed to be for
training of base defense force or critical
assets protection force. You know you
can have air planes, if the base is not
properly defended, you will still run into
problems.
“We saw that in December 2013 when
our base was attacked in Maiduguri and
some air asset destroyed. We don’t want
that to happen again.
“So, what we have been doing all the
while is to build the capacity of base
defense.
“We have identified a few gaps which we
are working hard to ensure we close and
transform them into something positive
for our country.”