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Minister of State, Defence, Mrs. Olusola Obada
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‘Power surge caused defence ministry fire’

By Fidelis Soriwei 

Special Adviser to the Minister of State for Defence, Mr. Femi Adefila, on Sunday, explained that terrorists were not behind the fire at the Ministry of Defence premises on Friday night.

Adefila, who spoke in a telephone conversation with our correspondent on Sunday, said a power surge caused the incident

He also said nobody was arrested following the incident.

He stated that the fire did not affect the main building housing the Ministry of Defence known as the Ship House.

According to him, the incident occurred at the clinic within the complex of the Ministry of Defence.

Adefila said the fire, which started late on Friday night affected one of the rooms of the clinic and did no further damage.

He said security men on duty informed the Minister of State for Defence, who quickly visited the premises with the top echelon of the ministry and a director from the Federal Capital Territory Fire Service of the incident by 2am.

He said, “There is nothing like terrorist attack. A fire occurred at a building at the back of the Ship House. The main ministry building was not torched. It was a building housing the clinic at the back of the main house and the fire affected only a room.

“The security men on duty contacted the Minister and the minister was there in the night about 2am with the top echelon of the ministry and a director from the FCT Fire Service.

“The men of the fire service were able to put out the fire.”

However, the Director Defence Information, Col. Mphammed Yerima, said a media report about fire in Defence Headquarters was not correct.

He said there was no fire at the Defence Headquarters as only the headline of the story mentioned the DHQ as being affected by the fire while the main body mentioned the Ministry of Defence.

He said, “What has that got to do with the DHQ? There is no fire there. Even the report on the incident stated that it occurred at the Ministry of Defence. It is only the headline that is saying DHQ which is not correct.”