Three military officers participating in the Democracy Day Parade slumped in Eagle Square, Abuja, during the June 12 celebrations, creating palpable tension.
They were thought to have passed out from exhaustion after standing for hours in one spot in the scorching sun.
Some security and medical personnel rushed to the parade ground with stretchers, whisking the collapsing colleagues to the medical shed on the left side of the State Box, where President Muhammadu Buhari was seated, causing some confusion.
However, there were no reported casualties because they were successfully treated and quickly recovered consciousness.
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The Army, Navy, Air Force, and Police all put on shows during the ceremony. Traditional dance performances from various ethnic groups were followed by a combat display by the Nigerian Army Female Corps.
The President, who was also the Special Guest of Honour, inspected the guards before being followed by a military/police march past in slow and fast motion.
Before the parade advanced in review order, the Armed Forces and Police put on a combined silent drill display and a playlet performance to round out the ceremony.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, National Assembly Presiding Officers, Service Chiefs, Diplomatic Corps Members, Youth Corps Members, and Babagana Kingibe, a former Cabinet Member under President Yar’Adua, were among those present.
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Kingibe, who was M.K.O. Abiola’s running mate in the 1993 presidential election, was introduced as a former Vice President and invited to join President Buhari, Jonathan, Senate President Ahmad Lawan, Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief Justice of the Federation Ibrahim Tanko, and the All Progressives Congress’s national chairman Abdullahi Adamu in a group photograph.
