Nigerian Army reverses self, says October 30 university commissioning holds

The Nigerian Army has apologised for announcing a postponement of its scheduled commissioning of a new university in Borno State, saying it regretted the error and the event would now go on as planned for October 30.

The reversal comes less than seven hours after the Army announced on Twitter Sunday morning that the event had been postponed, but did not cite any explanation for the postponement or fix a new date.

“Kindly disregard the earlier postponement. All Inconveniences are regretted,” the Army said in a follow-up tweet Sunday morning.

President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to open the university as its first set of students began arriving on campus for its takeoff academic year.

The Federal Executive Council gave the army final approval for the establishment of the university in April, months after construction of major buildings on campus had either been completed or near completion.

The Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, said the institution was designed to tackle unique challenges, especially on specific security crises the military faces in its war against Boko Haram and armed banditry.