6th January, 2011
Nigeria’s fragile democracy has never been tested and threatened with such military magnitude as it was when 13 containers were found to contain imported arms and ammunition including rocket launchers, bombs, hand grenades, cartridges, etc.
These deadly cargoes were shipped from Iran and underwent transshipment in Greece, Spain and India before finally arriving in Tin Can Island Port on July 15th, 2010. Even though the cargo was consigned to Mr. Ali Abbas Usman Jega of No. 6B Nouakchott Street, Wuse Zone 1, Abuja, all Nigerians knew that there was no such person in that address.
If Nigerians were jolted by these lethal discoveries, it is because we forget so easily. Just before President Goodluck Jonathan’s declaration to contest for the presidency at Eagles Square on 18th September 2010, so many threats were spewed out from a section of the country. A relentless threat of fire and brimstone if President Jonathan SIGNIFIED intention to contest. Do Nigerians forget so easily and in so short a time? Some even threatened that a section of the country will make Nigeria ungovernable if President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan declared his intention to contest the 2011 Presidential election. And so it happened.
President Goodluck Jonathan declared his presidential ambition on the 18th September 2010 and in less than a forthnight the 1st bombs were detonated at the same Eagle Square, where the President made his intention known earlier. Then about three weeks later 13 containers of sophisticated arms including bombs, grenades and rocket launchers where LUCKILY discovered on 26th October, 2010.
Even though the Nigerian Customs and Excise claimed credit for the discovery, it has now been revealed that the Comptroller General of custom’s claim was not only false but also criminal. It was an aggrieved clearing agent who blew the whistle to alert the Nigerian Police, Lagos State Command. So the customs boss was ill informed and his false claim is a criminal disservice to the nation.
But the most worrisome aspect of the brouhaha is that government does not seem to worry about this complex security situation even with the Jos explosion which claimed over 80 lives and injured almost 200 more. Does the Federal Government know how many such containers have been smuggled into the country successfully? They could be in their hundreds or even thousands.
Those who promised the president hell are the very mighty of society. Their design is to frustrate and confuse President Goodluck Jonathan and if possible destabilise the country in several other ways.
Every Nigerian seems to be reading the writing on the wall except the government. Immediately after the October 1st bomb blast in Abuja, government appointed a substantive National Security Adviser to replace Gen. Aliyu Gusau who was also planning to become Nigeria’s next President. It is true that Gen. Andrew Azazi is a capable material but does he have the equipment and facilities to work with?
For instance it was revealed that the Federal Government contracted the installation of fixed scanners at the nation’s seaports since 2006. The contractors have not to date completed this project and so Nigeria’s customs and excise have to carry out 100% physical inspection on all cargoes coming into Nigeria, instead of scanning each cargo/container on discharge.
The irony is that the same untouchable contractors who have bolted with our billions are the same heavyweights heating the polity. The Federal Government cannot effectively man its ports if these fixed scanners are not installed and these dubious contractors can only bring in their evil cargoes if the installation of fixed scanners is sabotaged.
These latest bomb explosions starting from the Eagles Square tragedy of 1st Oct. 2010 are the physical manifestation of political godfathers and overlords who are daily frustrated by the ascending popularity and political profile of President Goodluck Jonathan. Even those of them implicated via text messages during the Eagles Square disaster were pardoned so that Nigerians will not accuse government of political victimization. Government has glossed over imminent threats of violence with treasonable undertone for the same reasons.
And so the rehash of violence and explosions in Jos (Plateau State), Yenagoa (Bayelsa State), Maiduguri (Borno State) and Abuja (FCT) are all an interwoven network to frustrate and even terminate the Presidential Election in April 2011.
It is now left to President Jonathan, to prove to the whole world especially Nigerians that his government is on top of the situation and that Nigerians should sleep with both eyes closed in spite of these thunderous explosions from frustrated and demonized Nigerian political godfathers who have sworn to truncate the forthcoming elections as their chances of becoming president have vanished. Nigerians must be extra vigilant but government must act swiftly because this is becoming a “kill or be killed†situation. It has become a matter of who gets rid who first.
And now the bombs are everywhere. In Jos a powerful, earth shaking twin blast devastated Jos on Xmas eve killing 80 people and injuring about 200 others. At the end of the day over 100 people would have died. In Yenagoa, capital of Bayelsa State, another twin blast shook the coastal city on December 29, 2010 but luckily there were no human casualties. These security breaches are a threat not only to precious lives and properties but also to the corporate existence of the country called Nigeria.
It has become very convenient for various religious and corporate groups and even individual Nigerians to openly issue treasonable threats against the survival of this great country without any government reprisal or even response. These religious organizations and groups of individuals have been encouraged by government inaction and lack of equitably forceful reprisal. These individuals and organisations have tested the waters and are now convinced that the Federal Government is very friendly even with such treasonable life threatening security breaches.
I shudder to think about what will happen immediately, before and after the 2011 presidential election. Except this government shows its carnivorous teeth and fangs, the situation will only get worse. Most godfathers of violence have concluded their plans to truncate the forthcoming elections as a result of President Jonathan’s rising profile and their dwindling political fortunes. This is not a prophecy of doom but if the government does not change its friendly and “please-everyone†posture on the very serious issue of national security and survival, the 2011 presidential election will be overtaken by events.
Already some Nigerian leaders have compromised peace by advocating the use of force to bring about change. This statement was made in every unambiguous terms and government too is aware of the serious and treasonable connotations involved. But till this moment government has not questioned the author of this statement. Government’s excuse for ignoring this volatile statement was that people will accuse it of victimizing political opponents.
The Attorney-General and Federal Minister of Justice should please tell this government the enormous powers vested in the Executive President of Nigeria to protect and deal ruthlessly with anyone or group of people or organizations who threaten the territorial integrity and corporate survival of this great nation.
It is a very sad commentary to observe that government has no means of determining the quantity of arms and ammunition illegaly imported imported into the country. If not for the cheated whistle blower, the 13 containers with bombs, grenades and rocket launchers would have reached their destination without let or hindrance like thousands of others that have found their way into Nigeria.
On Monday Dec, 27, 2010, a religious organization claimed responsibility for the macabre Jos explosions. Before then another religious organization had boasted that voting will be disrupted in all voting centres in a certain part of the country. This group did not hide its activities.
In fact it even circulated a communiqué of their meetings and resolutions. Is the Federal Government aware of the nefarious activities of these disgruntled politicians who want to tear the nation apart because of their perceived inadequacies and inability to win the 2011 presidential election?
The government is aware that Jos and so many other state capitals and even smaller cities will be brought to ruin. The situation in Jos, Plateau State, is very intricate, complex and even confusing.
The Jos crisis has become an annual ritual fast assuming a monstrous proportion. The Jos crisis claimed its greatest number of victims in 2001 when over 2000 lives were lost in Jos alone. Again in 2004 inter communal clashes in Yelwa, Plateau State caused another 800 deaths. Between in 2008 due to dispute from Local government elections, over 400 lives were lost again.
The carnage that occurred in Jos in January and March 2010 generated another unmitigated bloodletting and led to an exchange of near hostilities between the state and Federal Government. In March 2010 Gov. Jonah Jang condemned the Federal Government for trying to transfer 139 self-confessed suspects to Abuja because of lack of investigative logistics in Plateau State. Gov. Jang resisted the Federal Government because all suspects transferred to Abuja on previous occasions were released one after the other by their political sponsors.
Jos and many other cities in Nigeria will have their tastes of bombs, rocket propelled grenades, explosives and bazookas and the most sophisticated of military accoutrements. It will be politically naïve and almost unthinkable for Nigeria to claim an ostrich-like immunity and feel inured and secured from the global fundamentalist violence rocking the whole world.
North East Africa, especially Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Chad are all havens for eccentric fundamentalism. Refugees from this troubled hotbeds have roamed through all the unfenced territorial borders in Africa into Chad, Niger and the possibility of finally slipping into Nigeria’s friendly and porous borders cannot be ruled out.
With a good security network, Nigeria would have long realised that this “quadrangle of evil†would one day unleash these strange doctrines conflagrating the North and off-load them into Nigeria via neighbouring Chad and Niger republics.
May the good Lord save the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Amen. I wish all Nigerians a Happy, security guaranteed 2011.
— Ben Nanaghana
