[size=18pt]FG douses Israel’s fears over October 1 bombings[/size]

Written by Clement Idoko, Abuja Wednesday, 20 October 2010



The Federal Government, on Tuesday, reassured the State of Israel that it had no cause to fear, following the October 1, 2010 bombings in Abuja, which prompted Israeli authorities to reportedly bar its national carrier, El Al, from plying to and fro Nigeria for the reason that its aircraft and crew members might become terrorist targets.

The Nigerian Tribune gathered that in line with the directive, the airline had cancelled its series of flights planned to convey about 28, 000 Christian pilgrims to Israel and back to Nigeria, raising the fears that the ban might disrupt travel plans for the intending pilgrims.

It was gathered that the initial plan was for El Al to undertake the conveying of the pilgrims starting from October 20 on behalf of TAT which won the air carrying contract.

But speaking exclusively with the Nigerian Tribune in Abuja, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC), Evangelist John-Kennedy Oparah, who gave the reassurance stated that all was well as the Federal Government was in control of the security concern.

He noted that what the country was experiencing at the moment was part of its growing process and disclosed that the ban was been sorted out with the relevant Israeli authorities.

He, however, noted that should Israel remain adamant at the end of the dialogue, the commission would have to make use of its option B, adding that “definitely, we will commence airlifting”
Mr Oparah stated that, “we are still working on it. God willing, it will be sorted out.

But it will not stop our airlifting. If they say we are not going to use their aircraft, no problem. Before now, we have been using aircraft from elsewhere. But we are still handling it in such a way that at the end of it all, we can strike a balance”.


http://www.tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/12360-fg-douses-israels-fears-over-october-1-bombings

Is it not funny, that Israel of all countries will be afraid of bomb blasts
With Hezbollah and Palestinian militants throwing grenades and suicide bombs from the Gaza strip, are they telling me Israel is safer than Nigeria, pls tell me something else

@ blinx4real

Me thinks dey hav their hands full already, dey just want to avoid unnecessary new risks. Overall performance of d nigerian state in managing crime is not very good, hence any nation wt high concern for security will not trust d Nigeria.

blinx4real:

Is it not funny, that Israel of all countries will be afraid of bomb blasts
With Hezbollah and Palestinian militants throwing grenades and suicide bombs from the Gaza strip, are they telling me Israel is safer than Nigeria, pls tell me something else

Word

The fight by militants/terrorists or freedom fighters as the case may be is oftentimes more psychological than physical. The militants world over want to give the impression that things are not safe, that they can strike at will (Instill FEAR into everyone) and that their cause is just and has the support of everyone.
The major strategy to counter this psychological warfare is to respond without Fear, and for the entire citizenry not to be intimidated. For this to be achieved we need everyone including foreign partners to not complicate the matter by taking hasty actions based on wrong information.
Nigeria has security challenges which is being addressed by the government at various levels, but the international community should not compound it by sabotaging the nigerian economy, because then, the militants will have won.

Blinx

We can't blame d international community for our deficiencies. D Nigerian state is sovereign and thus fully responsible for her internal affairs and security. She has d sole duty of making visitors want to come and partner up for mutual benefits. Those foreign businesses aren't here for charity, but business as it favours their interests first. If on our side we think their presence favours/ will favour our interest too then we should do everything necessary to protect dt.
D oil coys in ND started pulling out when d threat level against their businesses became unbearable. Dt forced d government to use all necessary means to make d environment return to conducive enough for business.

lol

lol

Nobody is blaming the international community for Nigeria's situation; we are blaming them for not measuring us with same yardstick used to measure other nations.
Since the Oct 1 bombing in Abuja, Nigeria, several other countries have had militant attack, suicide bombings and violent protests, [b]currently "France" is embroiled in a massive civil protest that is crippling the entire nation and students demonstrations are getting violent; Greece had a series of demonstrations during which many people died and many govt facilities were destroyed how come no airline/country laid an embargo on travel to Greece and France? That is my grouse.[/b]I do not deny that the Nigerian govt needs to do more to bring the unrest under control but seriously the international community have been known for extreme levels of hypocrisy.

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that is called defensive measures.they already have much problems with gaza and palistines tines and they do not wish to add more problems to these,so i guess its just a defensive measure.full stop