The News
Nigeria: Descent into anarchy

The nation was yet to recover from another episode of violence through explosions suspected to be bomb blasts in Jos, the Plateau State capital on Christmas Eve, when exactly a week later, on New Year's Eve, a market at the edge of an army barracks in the Federal Capital Territory came under similar attack.

Three months earlier, as Nigerians were celebrating the country's 50th independence anniversary, twin bombs went off near the Eagles Square, in Abuja, killing several people, and injuring scores others. Less than a year earlier, Plateau State witnessed two outbreaks of sectarian violence, resulting in the death of hundreds of people.

In the last two years, explosions have rocked places in Warri and Asaba, Delta State, Atlas Cove in Lagos, and Government House in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, among others.

Apart from the use of such explosive devices and the outbreaks of sectarian violence, there are other security issues like kidnapping for ransom in practically every region of the country, some which had fatal outcomes.

Claims of responsibility for the Christmas Eve bombings in Jos by a group which identified itself as Jama'atul Ahlul Sunnah Lidda a Wati wal Jihad have been dismissed by Nigerian security agencies; the Jama'atul Nasril Islam, said the group was a fake.

Some Nigerian newspapers reported that the Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it was responsible for the New Year's Eve blasts in Abuja, which some news agencies, quoting a broadcast by the Nigerian television Authority (NTA), said caused at least 30 deaths; the police later confirmed that only four people were killed, although there were reports that seven bodies were evacuated from the scene when rescue teams arrived.

MEND was reported to have given prior advice to residents to avoid certain spots in the federal capital, including the scene of Independence Day blasts that MEND also claimed responsibility for planting. A statement by MEND issued yesterday however said the group was not responsible for the New Year eve blast.

So far government officials have not apportioned blame, or given hint about who the government thought might be responsible for perpetrating these crimes. But President Goodluck Jonathan has disclosed that both the Jos incident and Abuja blasts were linked through the similarity in the chemical components of the explosive devices used in them.

According to the president, the explosives used in Jos on Christmas Eve and in Abuja on New Year's Eve were from one and the same source. He went further to disclose that experts' analyses have determined that the explosives used on Independence Day in Abuja were from the same source as those that are commonly used by Niger Delta militants.

On the strength of this, the president, in condemning the Abuja blasts, said the perpetrators would be apprehended and dealt with. Speaking of 'new and dangerous challenge to our peace and stability', President Jonathan noted that 'evil people' who basked in their 'nefarious success in Jos' on Christmas Eve had 'knifed at the heartstrings' of a nation about to usher in a new year.

The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Oluseyin Petinrin, also referred to 'a new crime' in commenting on the Abuja New Year's Eve blasts. 'It is this type of incident that we have in Jos', he said on the scene hours after the blasts. He too had no doubts that the perpetrators would be identified and caught. 'It is a matter of time; these people will be caught.'

Contrary to be both the president's remarks and Petinrin's observation, this is not a new crime, and the signs were all there and it should have been expected. If the government had not been paying lip service to security issues, such serious breaches would be minimised, if not eliminated. A few days before Christmas, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Alhaji Bala Mohammed, assured residents of Abuja that steps had been taken to ensure their security and that the yuletide season would take place in complete atmosphere of peace. As a matter of fact, he added, to demonstrate that the administration was serious, hundreds of 'informants' had been engaged to blow the whistle on anything or anyone likely to pose a security threat. Either the effort failed or there was no serious move to back the minister's assurances with concrete action.

This column has on more than one occasion warned on the threat of the unaddressed issue of the proliferation of illegal arms in the country.

Nowhere is this proliferation more pronounced as in the Niger Delta region. Despite a subsisting amnesty for armed militants in the region, the number and type of weapons surrendered to the government as part of the deal is unimpressive. No heavy weapons that are known to be part of the militants' arsenal have so far been given up.

The report of the Nigerian Army on the case of stolen weapons from the armoury in Kaduna and elsewhere, implicating several senior officers and politicians from the Niger Delta area became public recently; the government is yet to act on the report, even though some of the people implicated in it hold senior positions in the current administration. This kind of apparent cover-up does not make for effective security measures President Jonathan pledged to Nigerians after the Jos violence of November 2009 that the culprits would be apprehended and punished. Such assurances have become meaningless platitudes in the face of increasing and more frequent occurrences of violence that claim scores of lives of Nigerians. Who were behind the blasts in Jos and Abuja? The president has indicated that both incidents had the same imprint. Perhaps it is time the government begins to level with Nigerians about what threats this country faces, and what steps are being taken to contain them.

It is clear that the bombers, whoever they are, are beginning to think that they can continue with such acts of terrorism unchallenged even as the government and the security services seem clueless and unable to guarantee the security of lives and properties of its citizens.

To reverse this ugly trend, the government must begin to show some resolve in dealing with all acts of criminality of this nature, whoever is found to be involved, and wherever it occurs.

What has happened to the various reports of panels and commissions of inquiry that the government routinely set up to investigate such episodes?

A troubling dimension to this rash of bombings is the possibility they will increase and intensify as the elections draw near. Daily Trust calls on the different communities in Plateau state to find accommodation with each other as it is obvious that they are all losers in the intolerance that has turned the once peaceful area into a violent jungle for both the hunter and the hunted. It is the years of senseless violence that provided the excuse if any was needed for the terrorists to strike there, hoping to unleash yet more mindless killings. Leaders of the Plateau communities will have to rise above the hatred on all sides and show that is a road to nowhere as the over a decade of the conflict have shown.

On the whole the Nigerian government has some work to do to convince citizens that it is really in control and assure them of their safety. The flipside to this is that the country is edging towards the precipice; only decisive action on the part of the authorities can halt the descent into anarchy.

Daily Trust



http://www.oyibosonline.com/cgi-bin/newsscript.pl?record=8281

I beg to disagree with the Daily Trust's analysis above.

What do you think guys and gals ?

It is clear that the bombers, whoever they are, are beginning to think that they can continue with such acts of terrorism unchallenged even as the government and the security services seem clueless and unable to guarantee the security of lives and properties of its citizens.

To reverse this ugly trend, the government must begin to show some resolve in dealing with all acts of criminality of this nature, whoever is found to be involved, and wherever it occurs.

this is what happens when governments appease terrorists masquerading as militants, when governments offer amnesty to armed robbers