Cadet allegedly beaten to death by seniors on first day in camp

James Didam Bulus, a fresh cadet of the Nigeria Defence Academy, NDA, Kaduna, according to reports, was "brutalized" to death by senior cadets less than 24 hours after he finished registration and reported to the camp.


A close family friend said Joshua was beaten to death on his “introductory” night.

“He arrived NDA on Saturday, 3rd September, 2016 and on Monday, 5th September; I was told that he was dead. It was my friend that drove his son to the gate of old NDA and they parted ways happily."

"But, I was told that he died on Sunday after he did not survive what I was told was ‘introduction’ beatings from his seniors. At the mortuary, you could see stitches on his head and he had bruises on other parts of the body. The NDA said that he died of stomach pain and that before he could be taken to the hospital, he died on the way.

When contacted, the Public Relations Officer, PRO, of NDA, Captain Musa Yahaya, said that James, who hails from Kaduna municipality, had an accident on the day he was to report and came to NDA with injuries.

He said: “It was when the new cadets were queuing to receive their kits that Cadet Didam slumped. He was immediately rushed to the clinic and was given the best of medical attention. When the doctors examined him, they found out that he had internal bleeding. He had earlier confided to one of his colleagues that he had an accident on his way to NDA. But that he was afraid to tell the authority so that they would not reject him. He was never brutalized. It was an accident that he had. That was what the autopsy confirmed. He died on Monday.”