In a series of tweets on its verified Twitter handle @DefenceInfoNG on Tuesday evening, the DHQ said that “a very courageous and hardworking officer, Zakari Sani, was ambushed alongside other soldiers in Benue State while on Operation Whirl Stroke.
It noted that Sani was badly wounded and was evacuated to Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi, where he was initially stabilised and later evacuated to Ceda Crest Hospital in Abuja for higher management outside of the operations theatre.
“Ceda Crest Hospital is one of the best hospitals in the country as at today,” DHQ said.
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“The team of doctors and other medical staff, including expatriates, are attending to the officer whose situation, though serious, is getting better by the day,” the tweet said.
The DHQ said that Sani has undergone several medical procedures which have helped to stabilise him further.
It denied allegation that the wounded officer had been taken out of the country, saying, “Information given about Captain Zakari may be intended to ensure he gets the best of medical attention, but the narrative is not true.
“If he had been hurriedly taken out of the country without the stabilisation treatment according to medical advice, the outcome may not be certain.”
The tweet noted that the military takes care of the medical needs of her personnel, including her retired colleagues.
“As necessary, various cases are sent on Medevac, especially those personnel wounded in active service,” the DHQ tweet said.
It added that the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin, has “placed medical surveillance on the officer for eventual medical evacuation outside the country.”
“It should be noted that foreign medical evacuation is a process that is done with the advice of the medical doctor that is administering the stabilisation treatment,” the tweet further said.
It may be recalled that on May 18, 2018, the Defence Headquarters inaugurated the Operation Whirl Stroke for Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba and Zamfara states to counter armed herdsmen and militia groups operating within the region.
The Acting Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. John Agim, while briefing journalists at the Tactical Air Command headquarters in Makurdi, said the operation, which began on May 8, comprised all the military services, Police and the Department of State Services.
