THRILLER FROM THE VILLA By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem
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Since the present administration started facing the Boko Haram crisis and other forms of militancy, we have been too used to this spontaneous reaction by the Presidency.
After every major bomb incident, Boko Haram (or MEND) takes responsibility, the President visits the scene (if he can) and victims on their hospital beds, he condemns the crime- sometimes he even tells us to get used to it as terrorism is a global phenomenon- and repeat the familiar phrase of ‘we are on top of it.’
Next, his media aide issues a release and repeats the same rhetoric and after a few days of hue and cry as well as some media paparazzi, the whole thing dies down. Meanwhile, the evil doers go back to the drawing board and plot another attack and the vicious circle goes on.
As experience has shown, anytime a particular area is seen to be under series of consistent attacks, the attention of everyone and security operatives are wholly focused there. Then we witness more roadblocks, more traffic, more chaos, more confusion, less thinking and less results. Sometimes, we even have curfews and state of emergencies in these areas. And what does the militants do, they explore other areas and catch everybody unawares”. Government officials begin to fall on top of each other in order to hurriedly repeat the same things.
It happened again in Jos last Sunday when a suicide bomber attacked the headquarters of Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN), killing scores of people, wounding others and destroying several vehicles. There was a reprisal attack on some Muslims in another part of the state, moments after
I guess it was Jos again this time because it had been long any of such incident happened in that city. And since the attention of our security agencies was focused in Maiduguri, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Suleja and Madalla and since Jos, a city notorious for all sort of killings in recent years, had been naively abandoned, the evil men struck again.
Expectedly, President Goodluck Jonathan’s spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati reacted in his usual manner and as usual threatened fire and brimstone: “Those who seek to divide us by fear and terror will not succeed. The indiscriminate bombing of Christians and Muslims is a threat to all peace-loving Nigerians. Mr. President will continue to stand firm to ensure the safety and security of all Nigerians while ensuring that the relevant institutions move against those who disregard the sanctity of life in the pursuit of sectarian ambitions,” the statement said.
It continued: “Government is gradually and firmly bringing justice to those behind these attacks and exposing their identities and dismantling their terror infrastructure. Those behind similar acts of terror in recent times have been arrested and are being investigated with a view to prosecuting them accordingly, as a deterrent to others.”
After this, all we will hear is that some people have been arrested, is either the prime suspect escapes and the masses of Nigeria are subjected to some drama or we don’t just hear anything serious again. This continues again until the next blast.
It is worth repeating here that the present Boko Haram crisis in the country may not be the direct fault of President Goodluck Jonathan but it is also worth asking what exactly has the President done to bring the bombers to their knees aside strongly-worded statements and cosmetic changes here and there.
While we may forgive the President on account of the fact that he cannot be everywhere, we ask if he is satisfied with the work of his security chiefs so far? How come we still employ this archaic system of blocking the roads with gun wielding soldiers and simply frustrating innocent commuters rather than doing something serious about serious criminals in our midst? How come Jonathan’s security men have not been able to come up with better strategies of ending the bombings than merely mounting roadblocks since the Boko Haram launched an audacious attack on the UN building on August 16 last year?
Sometimes, when I hear about bomb attacks in Suleja, Madalla, Kaduna and Kano, my mind goes back to the number of roadblocks and military checkpoints we have from Abuja down to Kaduna to Zaria and then to Kano. Since similar checkpoints are a prominent feature of all northern roads, then where exactly do the bombs pass through? Where, just where?
Is it not a pointer to the fact that the President needs to task his security think tank to put on its thinking cap and come up with something more effective and stop delaying traffic for nothing?
Lest I forget, what happened to intelligence gathering? Are these bomb attacks planned in Nigeria? And how come they get executed with such clinical efficiency without any interruption from any quarters? Yet some people and institutions get sustained with billions of naira of tax payers’ money
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