Disgruntled National Resistance Army war hero Maj. Hajji Abdul Nadduli will receive the attack on Gaddafi barracks with an ironic warm smile following the army’s arrest of one of its own for possible conspiracy in the cowardly onslaught.
According to statements released by both the Uganda police force and the UPDF, unknown assailants raided Gaddafi Barracks in Jinja at around 9pm on Thursday night. They shot dead one of the army guards before making off with two SMG rifles.
A statement released by the UPDF spokesperson identified the dead soldier as Sgt. Eyamu Simon Peter, 45 who by the time of the attack had been deployed together with L/Cpl. Kibirige Norico to guard a small gate of Ambercourt road within the barracks’ perimeter. It is said that at the time the attackers struck, Eyamu had remained alone at the guarding post after Kibirige dashed to a nearby shop to buy some cigarettes.
It is against this background that he was arrested for investigations to ascertain whether his momentary ‘disappearing act’ could be connected to the attack.
Reports further indicated that Eyamu was first strangled to death by the attackers before they shot him dead and took his and Kibirige’s guns.
Police described the attack as cowardly while the army appealed to Ugandans to remain calm, calling the incident an act of criminality which will be dealt with soon.
Nadduli Vindicated
The attack on Gaddafi barracks brings to three the number of attacks on security installations ijn under one month.
The first of such attacks happened on Busiika police station on October 31 where two officers and two others were killed and injured respectively.
The other incident happened on Monday, November 14, 2022 when armed men opened fire on a police station in Kyanja, luckily not injuring anyone or taking any weapons.
The attacks, however, bring to life memories of the NRA guerilla war tactics where the then rebels attacked police and military installations where they got guns which were instrumental in fighting the governments of then presidents Idi Amin Dada and Apollo Milton Obote.
Should L/Cpl. Kibirige be found to know a thing or two about the attack, it will vindicate Luwero bush war hero hajji Abdul Nadduli who last week pointed fingers at a possible involvement of security personnel in the new spate of attacks targeting security installation.
Nadduli made the remarks during a YouTube TV interview which was hosted by Jackson Kisubi.
Kisubi had reached out to Nadduli to comment about the recent arrest of over 5 members of his family on allegations of masterminding the attack on Busiika Police Post.
The arrests came shortly after Nadduli had been his son jacana Sulaiman Nadduli Jnr, who was at the time of his death a ferocious critic of the NRM government.
Prompted to speak about the arrests and claims of existence of rebels in Luwero, Nadduli laughed off the claims, saying they were being cooked up by some elements in the security structures. According to Nadduli, the current setup of the country does not favour the buildup of a rebel outfit, leaving any semblance of the same to be a possible handiwork of members of the security forces.
It is not the first time this is happening. In 1998 when I had just become district chairperson, similar incidents happened and the security heads at the time convinced the president that rebels had set up cells in Luwero. I however told the president that that was impossible and instead it was his men cooking up the narrative to get operational funds,” Nadduli said.
He noted that because of the current economic squeeze, it is likely that security officers can resort to such underhand methods of forcing budgetary releases to ostensibly fight the rebels who Nadduli believes are a mere creation.
It however remains to be discovered if Kibuuka or any other officer was complicit in the acts since this has not been yet confirmed by the government.
