January 15, (THEWILL) – President Muhammdu Buhari on Saturday presided over the ceremony marking the 2022 Armed Forces Remembrance Day in Abuja.
The Armed Forces Remembrance Day is 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.
Amid the celebration in Abuja, the activities started October 28, 2021, when the president launched the remembrance emblem at the presidential villa, Abuja.
During Saturday’s ceremony which took place at the National Arcade opposite the Eagle Square in the Three Arms Zone, the president inspected a Guard of Honour mounted by detachments of the Nigerian Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Nigerian Legion.
Prayers were said by Christian and Muslim clerics for the peaceful repose of the souls of the dead and the health of the nation.
Buhari laid a wreath on the Tomb of an Unknown Soldier as a mark of last respect to the fallen heroes who paid the supreme price to keep global peace and the nation’s territorial integrity.
Others who laid wreaths are Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan; Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Ibrahim Tanko; Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mohammed Bello represented by his Minister of State, Ramatu Aliyu, and his Defence counterpart, Gen. Bashir Magashi.
Others are the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor, Service Chiefs, the Nigerian Legion, among others.
Three volleys of 21 gun salutes were fired at the event followed by the signing of the Remembrance Day anniversary register by the president accompanied by heads of the other branches of government, military chiefs and other top officials of government.
President Buhari thereafter released white pigeons to indicate the harmony at the venue and the nation.
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