Armed Forces Remembrance Day: Nigeria honours fallen heroes

Today is Armed Forces Remembrance Day in Nigeria, an annual event commemorated to celebrate the nation’s servicemen and fallen heroes.

The event, celebrated on January 15 each year, also honours veterans of World War I and II, as well as the Nigerian Civil War. It is a day set aside for sober reflections on the significance of the armed forces to the country.

While the Armed Forces Remembrance Day is celebrated on November 11 every year globally, it is known as the armistice day, commemorating the end of the first World War.

But with the formal end of the Nigerian Civil War following the surrender of the Biafran secessionists on January 15, 1970, the date was changed to mark the restoration of Nigeria’s unity.

In the course of the celebration, ceremonies are scheduled to hold across various states of the federation during which governors are expected to pay tributes to the nation’s fallen heroes.

President Muhammadu Buhari, on his part, is also billed to lead a wreath-laying event and review a presidential parade at the National Arcade in Abuja.

He is expected to be joined by the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo; the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; and the service chiefs led by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, among other dignitaries.

Ahead of the event in the nation’s capital, the Federal Government ordered the closure of parts of the roads accessing the arcade of the Federal Secretariat complexes and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as early as 2pm on Friday.

This was announced in a circular in which the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, informed the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the closure.

“This event which involves the wreath-laying ceremony by President Muhammadu Buhari, accompanied by top government officials and members of the Diplomatic Corps will hold on Saturday, 15 January at the National Arcade, Abuja,” AbudulGaniyu Aminu, the Director of Press and Public Relations at the Office of the (HCSF), had said in a statement.