WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2011-07-25 Time: 16:00:02 Posted By: News Poster
By Isa Umar Gusau
A woman began to shiver, when in front of her house, she suddenly saw dozens of soldiers, dressed in green military camouflage ‘khaki’ trousers though, wearing white t-shirts, different from their usual combat appearance. They weren’t carrying guns, neither did they seem out for combat. None the less, ‘a soldier is a soldier, with or without his gun’ Mrs Eme Precious Akpan insisted, as she peeped from inside the house in fear, catching a glimpse of her visitors.
The soldiers held brooms, but why brooms when they were clearly not looking like politicians of one of Nigeria’s political parties, which has a broom as its symbol. These were soldiers, real soldiers, she thought. After a while, the woman summoned courage to come out, though dragging her feet, perhaps creating a space to run away should the need arise. “Please what have we done? Is there any problem?” she asked in panic. “No, no problem at all, we are here to clean the street and the front of your houses as part of our community assistance to our host communities to mark the Nigerian Army Day Celebration for this year,” the soldiers explained to Mrs Akpan. She probably shouldn’t have asked in the first place, because the soldiers were already sweeping and picking dirt on her street, even while she might have been sleeping.
The soldiers, from the 2 amphibious brigade of the Nigerian Army in Port Harcourt, led by their commander, Brigadier General Tukur Buratai, had actually begun the exercise early in the morning on that Saturday, July 2, 2011. They didn’t send prior notice for security reasons, so criminals won’t take advantage of them. And because the mere sight of soldiers often sends shivers down the spine of civilians, Mrs Akpan couldn’t still reckon with the purpose of that visit. Soon, she became relieved but still amazed. “You soldiers came to sweep our street and our house, and you are actually sweeping, am I seeing double? Wonders shall never end!” the excited woman exclaimed, as she stood and watched while the dozens, numbering about a hundred, move back and forth, sweeping, picking rubbish and clearing drainages with rakes.
Each of the soldiers had abandoned his gun on the commander’s instruction and instead, everyone from officers down to lowest ranked men, went home and picked brooms, shovels, cutlasses and rakes , since they were going for a different kind of war- community project that doesn’t at all require arms but physical strength and a humanitarian disposition. So, the soldiers swept clean, Ohiamini Crescent in Rumuola- like a tough military operation in which high level arsenals were launched on a civil community. Ohiamini Crescent was completely cleared of dirt by the time the soldiers left for another targeted street- no rubbish resisted the cleaning arms of the cleaning soldiers.
Mrs Eme Precious Akpan was so excited. She pleaded with journalists on the site to wait so she could make comments. With the speed of a woman rushing to grab a beloved lost kid, Mrs Akpan ran into her house and in few minutes she was dressed for the occasion. She had to look good because of the cameras. “I am now ready to talk. Everybody knows that soldiers are used to the carrying of guns, but I was surprised to see them, carrying brooms. I am really happy to see them. Look at how our house has become very neat, look at the entire street. This is a good thing and honestly it has made me to now see soldiers as friends, I think others should be doing this kind of thing too,” Mrs. Akpan said.
Mrs Akpan wasn’t the only beneficiary of the sanitation exercise. It was the same for the busy Ikwerre road, with the soldiers trekking and stretching down to Rumuigbo-Rumuola-Aba road after the exercise took off from the federal gate (the name the soldiers use to describe Federal Government College, Port Harcourt). The gate is located behind Bori camp around Rumuola. The Bori camp houses the 2 brigade and its other units: 29 Battalion, 541 Brigade Signals, 2 Brigade Medical Centre, 951 Brigade Workshop, 82 Ammunition Sub Depot,2 Brigade Supply and Transport Company and 2 Brigade Provost Company all of which were represented by officers and men in the sanitation.
At different points, the soldiers swept, weeded with hoes, cut grass with cutlasses, cleared drainages with rakes and picked dirt on the streets, like kids commonly do in schools. But the soldiers happily did the work, virtually every one trying to outdo the other with no supervision. There was no distinction between high ranking officers and men- similar to what somewhat happens in war time, every man to himself. At most points, residents initially raised fears but soon became relaxed and amazed. So it was for Pastor Tonye Beribo when he encountered the military cleaners under the Rumuola Bridge. “May God bless this charity work. I believe what you did can bring the civilians closer to soldiers, this is good” the man of God said. That prayer by Pastor Beribo was reflected the next day at a special Sunday service to end celebrations marking the 148th anniversary of the Nigeria Army.
Friday July 1, was marked with a special Jumaat service. The day usually begins with any Friday that falls before July 6 every year and ends with the Sunday, while different charity exercises are put in place as a matter of choice by different army formations for their host communities. The 2 brigade chose to carry out a sanitation exercise which was apt given the fact that the Saturday, they cleaned the streets the state government had suspended the usual monthly sanitation because of the opening ceremony of the national sports festival billed to take place the next day, Sunday. This event made the coincidence of the soldiers cleaning more suitable for the garden city.For that, the Rivers state Environmental Sanitation Agency (RSESA) provided the soldiers with a truck to pack the rubbish they cleared.
The brigade commander, Brigadier General Yusuf Tukur Buratai told news men shortly after the exercise that the army day had its theme: “Enhancing Nigerian Army Capacity to Meet Contemporary Security Challenges” which was in line with the vision of the chief of army staff to reposition the army as a formidable force. He said the sanitation exercise aims at enhancing the synergy between the army and its host communities. He said residents of Port Harcourt have been quite hospitable to the soldiers, and hence the need to give back to them by way of sanitation, since protecting the citizens is a natural job of the soldiers. The commander also said “It was a way of re-sensitising the people on the importance of sanitation,” He recalled that not long ago, the brigade had enlisted some host community members who benefited in the area of skills acquisition. He also said the army has continued to battle with security challenges of kidnapping, armed robbery and other forms of criminalities, noting that the brigade continually trains and re-trains its officers and men to meet all challenges, while working with all security organisations. Buratai said his brigade even set up an anti-kidnap unit (AKU) that has been doing well in complimenting the efforts of the police.
Regarding the sanitation exercise, the commander didn’t quite seem satisfied.So while addressing officers and men after the cleaning that lasted hours, he announced that there was going to be a second outing at 2pm. The soldiers didn’t really have the kind of high morale they had in the morning, but what could they have said after all, in the military, ‘one obeys the last order’. In chorus, they replied the General’s order; “Yes, Sir”. But may be because Pastor Beribo had already blessed them for a great job when he encountered them in the morning cleaning Rumoula, the afternoon repeat sanitation which they surely, could not have wanted, did not take place as General Buratai wanted. There was a heavy downpour, all through, and certainly not conducive for any sanitation. So as most of the soldiers may have thought, maybe recalling the Pastor’s prayers, ‘God had already blessed their first cleaning works in the morning, so He intervened with rains, and like He saved Noah, God saved the soldiers from a rather strenuous cleaning exercise after all, some streets of Port Harcourt were already cleared’.
Original Source: 
Original date published: 18 July 2011
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201107250940.html?viewall=1