[size=14pt]IMHOTEP:The killers of Eagle Square [/size]
OBADIAH MAILAFIA
October 3, 2010 11:59PMT

A dear friend from Kenya once remarked that if you do not have the heart to clobber another human being to death in your pursuit of power, never venture into African politics. We all laughed off his remarks at the time. But now I understand better.

There is a devil-theory of power which dispenses of no instruments; a theory in which the end justifies every means - a world totally devoid of moral scruples.

Friday 1st October was one of the saddest days of my life. Paradoxically, it was meant to be one of the happiest: the day of our golden jubilee celebrations as a sovereign, independent nation. Golden jubilees are meant to be solemn events; a time of new beginnings and renewed hope -- a time of forgiveness and reconciliation.

I happened to be in Brussels during the celebrations.

For millions of our people, the happy occasion was marred by the twin car bombings in which, so far, fifteen souls have perished, with so many others wounded.

On the evening of the same day we had a sumptuous banquet hosted by our highly able ambassador, His Excellency Ambassador Usman Baraya, at the plush Auto World Centre in the fashionable suburb of Woluwe- Saint Lambert. The hall was packed full with Diaspora Nigerians, diplomats and other distinguished guests and friends of Nigeria. The dinner was vintage us at our most hospitable. Against the sombre mood and rather gloomy faces, the traditional dances looked rather incongruous. The bombers of Eagle Square have dealt a mortal blow on the stature of our country.

My wife, who had planned to be at the celebrations, phoned from Abuja, her voice trembling. The first bomb had missed her by a whisker.

She was about to park her car near a vehicle loaded, according to her, "with pure water", when a traffic warden ordered her to move ahead, as there was more parking space ahead. No sooner had she parked than the same vehicle exploded into a ball of fire.

Only the most contemptible enemies of our republic could have done such an evil thing on this day of all days. During the Second World War certain limits were observed by all enemy combatants. The Allied forces led by America, USSR and Britain; and the fascists led by Germany, Italy and Japan had all agreed that on Christmas Day no single shot should be fired. And throughout the war years the guns always fell silent on Christmas Day.

Nobody except the most ruthless enemy of the Nigerian people could have planned and executed these wanton acts of destruction on the hallowed grounds of Eagle Square. There is no denying that our country has been a disappointment all these decades. All of us have grievances in one form or the other. But there are also things to be thankful for. Indeed, as the old book enjoins us: ‘in all things, give thanks'.

While I would defend the Lockean right of every oppressed group to fight for their rights, the essence of liberal democracy is the implicit recognition of constitutional and moral limits to the instruments we can deploy in the pursuit of legitimate grievances. The norms of civilised conduct would require that on such a day, of all days, nobody should have to die for any reason whatsoever.

[b]My first instinct tells me we have to look well beyond MEND and the Niger Delta insurgents. It would have been easy enough to bribe one of those violent bands of anarchists to claim responsibility for the bombings. Dissimulation, after all, is the stock in trade of our cultic merchants of death. We may be dealing with forces far more sinister than we imagine. Those who are losing out in the emerging geometry of power are becoming so desperate that no weapon is beneath them. People who have been alleged to lodge explosives on aircrafts to eliminate their opponents would consider putting bombs in motor vehicles a mere boy scout exercise. Lucifer has no shame and no mercy.

We as a nation are now pitched in mortal combat against the forces of darkness that have maintained a stranglehold over our benighted republic for decades. They will not go without a fight. And they may well prefer to bring down the Temple of Humanity itself. But they are losers - yesterday's people. The history of liberty from Thomas Paine to Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela makes it clear that freedom is never given. It always must be taken. Our generation must resolve to take back our country from those blood-sucking vampires who understand only violence and rapine.

The lines are now drawn on the sands of history. Whilst I cannot use the privilege of my column to endorse one presidential candidate over another, it bears remarking that, if those behind the bombings were hoping to discredit Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, they may well have achieved the opposite effect -- perhaps giving him the Presidency on a platter. The bomb fires of their vanity have made him to look like a better statesman than those miserable grisly reptiles. They have, in effect, placed themselves under the sewers of history.[/b]

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