Army explains disruption of businesses at major Abuja plaza after soldier incident

The Nigerian Army has defended its decision to besiege a busy shopping centre at the heart of the capital, Abuja, saying authorities were seeking those who assaulted uniformed personnel.

Police and military vehicles barricaded the popular Banex Plaza in Wuse District of Abuja after videos on social media appeared to show people in the area assaulting at least two soldiers. The attack took place on Saturday.

The siege continued on Tuesday, forcing hundreds of businesses, including banks and shops selling phones and computers, to close for days.

Banex and neighbouring Emab are some of the busiest shopping plazas in Abuja and attract thousands of customers daily.

Many Nigerians have urged the security agencies to vacate the area and allow businesses to reopen at a time the country faces a major economic crisis that has already impacted businesses and left many people without a jobs or living wage.

Most workers at shopping centres like Banex rely on day-to-day trading to earn in living and have no social security cover.

“Unwarranted and Unjustifiable”

The army said in a statement on Tuesday that a meeting with the management of the plaza agreed that those responsible for the attack would be arrested and the closure was “temporary.”

“In response to this unfortunate incident, a meeting was convened with the management of Banex Plaza to identify and apprehend the perpetrators of this heinous act by temporarily shutting down activities in the plaza to ensure that the hoodlums who have been using the Banex neighbourhood as a sanctuary to pose a security threat to the Federal Capital Territory were apprehended,” army spokesman Onyeama Nwachukwu said in a statement.

He said the personnel were “unarmed, did not engage in any form of aggression, and posed no threat to anyone” and the army is investigating their presence at Banex and what led to the attack.

“The cruel treatment meted out to them was entirely unwarranted and unjustifiable,” Mr Nwachukwu said.