Makurdi — Seven years since the 2001 sacking of Zaki Biam and six other towns in Benue State by irate soldiers, the Nigeria Army high command yesterday offered a public apology.

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt. General Luka Yusuf begged for forgiveness from the people of Benue State. He spoke at the J.S. Tarka Foundation in Makurdi during the opening ceremony of the Chief of Army Staff Annual Conference 2007, which began yesterday. The Army Chief's apologies were tendered in the presence of President Umar Yar'adua, Benue State governor Gabriel Tor-Suswam and his colleagues from Nasarawa, Ebonyi and Enugu states, as well as four ministers, National Assembly members, other military service chiefs and paramount rulers from Benue State. Yusuf said, "I want to use this opportunity to sincerely appeal to the people of Benue State to understand that the Army has no intention to make anybody lose sleep".

"And we are sincerely apologizing and we hope you will understand our own role as enshrined in the constitution. What happened had happened", said Lt. General Luka Yusuf, who added that the Makurdi conference gave the Army the opportunity to reconcile with the Benue community after the invasion.

But President Yar'Adua, who declared the conference open, declined comment on the matter. He did not mention the Zaki-Biam military invasion in his speech, even though it pitched the Federal Government in court against the Tiv speaking community of Benue state.

However, Governor Gabriel Tor-Suswam, who thanked the army high command for being bold enough to own up on the invasion, said the people of Benue State accepted the apologies. He said, "On behalf of the people of Benue state, I sincerely accept the sincere apologies of the army high command through the Chief of Army Staff. That sad incident is not one that nobody, not us as a people and government, neither the army nor the federal government, can look back on with pride".

He therefore appealed to the President Yar'adua to "remove the scars of the army invasion" by way of approving a programme of reconstruction and rehabilitation "to enable victims of the invasion to move on in life".

In his speech, the President Yar'Adua said he found the conference's theme, "The Role of the Nigerian Army in Sustaining Nigeria's Democracy", to be apt and added that the force is today confronted with the twin challenge of military and security realities in the fast globalizing 21st century world, and "functioning as an agent of change and democratic consolidation at home".

The president assured the army authorities of continued assistance and encouragement in its efforts at transformation and professionalism. "We are committed to building on the existing Car loan and Motorcycle loan initiatives as well as other welfare and well being of all officers and men our armed forces", he added. Yar'adua also paid glowing tributes to the fallen soldiers, seven of whom died recently in the Darfur region of Sudan, and prayed God to grant their gallant souls eternal rest.

The annual conference, according to Lt. General Luka Yusuf, is a culmination of all training activities in the year, even as it is the first to be held since his assumption of office. He re-assured the president of the continued and absolute loyalty as well as commitment of the army to discharge its own responsibility, especially in the area of assisting civil authorities to strengthen the democratic process.

The conference, which will last for five days, attracted both former and serving chiefs in the military, formation heads, the police and other civil agencies, the minister of defence, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed and three other ministers.