Segun Atanda/
One-time Mobile Police Commander, Ikioye Livingstone Orutugu, celebrated for his feats during police campaigns to end the Ife-Modakeke War that started in 1997 and subsequent massive bank robberies in Lagos, has made another historic accomplishment.
The Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) nicknamed FEAR has emerged as the only non-military officer in the pioneer set of 33 participants in the historic Course 1 at the premier Army War College in Nigeria.
Orutugu, a PhD holder, once served as Commander MOPOL 22, in Lagos, that teamed up with RRS and other units to fight the war, when the state was battling to wrestle itself free from the stranglehold of a wave of bank robbers with large well-armed gangs numbering over 50, thereby forcing the police to start using armoured personnel carriers (APC).
The Army War College training conducted with the support of British and American advisory teams was meant to equip the officers with new skills that would make the army succeed in its ongoing security operations, says Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin.
At the graduation on Friday, Olonisakin said, “This knowledge could not have come at a better time than this, when the Nigerian Army, and indeed, the armed forces of Nigeria is engaged in addressing myriads of security challenges confronting our dear nation.”
Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, who also spoke at the event, said, “We must be mentally and physically prepared, if we are to have cumulative advantage over all the security challenges we face today.
The Army War College was inaugurated in June 2017, with a mandate to train officers in specialised combat strategies and management of war.
While presenting the 33 distinguished graduands for the award of the Fellow of War College (fwc), Olonisankin noted that the college would produce well-trained, well educated and inspired operational level leaders for the Nigerian Army.
Learn more about the Army War College in this video:
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