Army Recruitment Exam: 20,000 Applicants Defy Downpour In Calabar

OVER 20,000 applicants who put in for the Nigerian Army recruitment drive at the 13 Amphibious Brigade, defied the downpour in Calabar yesterday to make true their dreams to be recruited into the army. The number comprised of young men and women, the crowd sat quietly as rain drops pelted their bodies and soaked them right down to their under garments while horse whip(Koboko) bearing soldiers stood guard. The shortlisted applicants underwent series of rigorous screening exercise before being allowed entry into the field at the Brigade headquarters at Akim where they wrote the examination as  no hall was big enough to accommodate them. According to a source who took part in the recruitment, they were made to first stand in a long queue which stretched two kilometres beginning from the gate of the Brigade through Mary Slessor Avenue to Calabar Road . Captain Ibrahim Yussuf, the Army Brigade Public Relations Officer, was not present at the examination venue and several calls to his mobile phone were not answered. The approach to this year's recruitment was to safeguard against any breach in security during the exercise.