ugwum007: Except if there is another banex in Wuse Abuja. I have been around there since today and didn't even see smoke anywhere or protesters. That background is too dusty and dirty to be Wuse bank. That social media bill is really needed.
Something that has been reported everywhere and Channels TV has shown videos of the protest.
[UPDATED] Iran: Shi’ites, others protest in FCT, burn US flag, block highway
Published January 6, 2020 Adelani Adepegba, Abuja
Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and some youths on Monday protested the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and his aides in a drone airstrike by the United States.
The Shi’ites burnt American flags at the Banex, Wuse area of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The angry protesters chanted hate songs and slogans such as ‘Death To America,’ as they condemned the US action.
The sect members also demanded the release of their leader, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat, who are currently in prison custody.
Our correspondent also gathered that some Muslim youths blocked the Abuja-Keffi highway in protest against Soleimani’s killing causing serious traffic gridlock on the busy road.
The unruly youths also paralyzed commercial activities in the Mararaba and Nyanya axis of the FCT as traders who feared an escalation of their action locked up their shops and fled.
It was gathered that the youths were subsequently dispersed by security agencies after some time.
Reacting to the development, the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs appealed to the youths “not to allow their emotions becloud them to the dangers of taking to the streets.”
The Head of Media and Communication, NSCIA, Ibrahim Aselemi, in a statement noted that the impasse between Iran and America could only be resolved through dialogue.
While noting that protest is an integral part of all civil democracies in the world, the council said the timing was wrong as it could lead to loss of lives.
It said, “We appeal to these Muslim youths not to allow their emotions becloud them to the dangers of taking to the streets.
“We appeal to the law enforcement agency to be alive to their responsibility of protecting lives and property.”
MetaPhysical: Boss, The fact it came from American press even made it worse. They do not understand the nuances of ethno-religious divide between the different ethnic groups in Nigeria. Their reporting is hearsay.
How many Northers can differentiate between Urhobo and Ibo, or Nupe and Yoruba?
How many Southerners know that Adamu Lawan may not necessarily be a Northern muslim....he could be a Christian and worships every Sunday at COCIN?
If we are still struggling with such thin lines....imagine the difficulty for a foreign media to get it right.
OOooooookkkkkk. Nigerian press cannot get it right. Foreign press cannot get it right, but only MetaPhysical press can get it right.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
It's obvious now. There's no need to continue. You are just arguing for the sake of arguing and I don't engage in that type of thing. This is my last post on this matter because the truth is obvious to the blind.
MetaPhysical: Its not uncommon for Nigerian media and bloggers to interchange north and muslim. If a report comes out today that a northerner was killed people will automatically conclude its muslim. This is a given.
Im going to let it rest, i believe i made my disaagreement with the IGP clear enough.
This article was not written by any Nigerian media or blogger. It's from the Associated Press and the NBC (both American news outfits). There was no interchanging anything. The fact is that it was an ethno-religious crisis. It was a religious crisis and the people clearly expressed their feelings. The words of those two men did not arise from an interchanging of anything. One of them said that, "These people are the ones causing problem all over the world". Are you saying that he was saying that northerners are the ones causing problems all over the world?
The feelings that those guys expressed are not new. You can easily find them all over Nairaland. I posted on a thread in which some people were saying that there are no Igbo muslims (even though there are) and declaring that they will not allow Islam in Igboland/Biafra. That is clearly religious and it's those same type of sentiments that the rioters expressed. There was clearly no interchanging of anything.
Now I'm certain that you were just arguing for the sake of arguing because nobody would say that it wasn't a religious riot despite all the evidence in that article and nobody would blame Nigerian media or bloggers for an article that was written by the NBC and sourced from AP.
MetaPhysical: Here it is, I see it and already responded.
In north christians were targeted. These included northern christians, midbelt christians, southwest christians, ss christians, se christians.
In Onitsha, nother muslims lived there, midbelt muslims lived there, sw muslims lived there, ss muslims livsd there and se muslims lived in Onitsha. Can you not see that only northern muslims were attacked? It is not religious but ethnic.
I repeat, we have never had a religious conflict in South....and no one should paint us with that brush.
Come on man!
1) No where in the article did it say that "only northerners were attacked", but more importantly
2) These are two quotes from two different people that were involved in the attacks. Why did they reference religion and not ethnicity?? These were people that were actually involved in the attacks. Come on man!
Ifeanyi Ese, a 34-year-old Christian, stood amid the concrete rubble of a mosque. “We don’t want these mosques here anymore. These people are causing all the problems all over the world because they don’t fear God,” he said.
He angrily scrawled “Mohammed is a man, but Jesus is from above” with a burned stick on a shattered wall.
“The Muslims brought this fracas,” said Ezekiel Haledon, a Christian, looking at a burned body in a potholed street in Onitsha, its teeth bared by scorched lips.
“It’s not a Christian act to kill your neighbor,” he said. “But it’s like that.”
You won't believe this. I can't believe this. I walked to the LCC office a few minutes ago and there's no traffic at the Roundabout! This is a Monday afternoon/evening! At 4pm!
The traffic has gradually reduced since Saturday.
O! I just remembered, I didn't post the Saturday and Sunday updates here.
MetaPhysical: No, not at all...this is not a frivolous exchange, there is a political undertone to my disagreement.
Yes Northerners were killed in Sagamu....ethnic, not religious.
All the instances of attacks in South has always been ethnic, never religious.
Lets cut this short. Naptu, there are pipelines all over the country....all way to Kaduna.
If militants in South issue threat to attack pipelines will IGP issue a nationwide alert?
He dare not...the Northerners will chew him out and quickly ask him to limit the alert to South.
We in South are not religious fanatics, wether muslim or christian, why is a potential danger taken out of context of "lessons learnt" applied to us in this nationwide alert?
Why couldnt it just be for North?
This is why I asked if the argument was genuine. You can't have read the article about the Danish cartoon and say that all conflicts in the south have been ethnic not religious. Should I quote from the article?
The facts should be perfectly obvious now, except if you are arguing just for the sake of it.
There have been many of these reprisal attacks, but I deliberately chose those articles. The issue, as you pointed out, is about lessons learnt.
1) There were attacks against northerners in Lagos c2001. Corpses of people that were killed in these attacks were taken to Kano in open trucks. People in Kano saw these corpses and went crazy. There were reprisal attacks on southerners in Kano.
People complained. "WHY DID THE POLICE NOT ANTICIPATE THESE ATTACKS? WHY DID THEY ALLOW PEOPLE TO CARRY CORPSES IN OPEN TRUCKS INTO THE CITY?
2) A Danish magazine published cartoons about Prophet Muhammad. This led to riots in Maiduguri and Kano in 2006. Christians and southerners were killed in those riots. The news got to the south. Violence erupted in Onitsha. Youths targeted Muslims and northerners. Mosques were burnt. More people were killed in Onitsha than in any other city that experienced the riots. There was also violence in Enugu and Asaba.
Ngerians complained. "WHY DIDN'T THE POLICE ANTICIPATE THESE REPRISAL ATTACKS? HOW COULDN'T THEY HAVE KNOWN THAT THERE WOULD BE REPRISALS?? Dr Ona Ekhomu was brought onto several TV shows to talk about the inability of the police to be proactive, to gather intelligence, and to put its men on alert to prevent or reduce these incidents.
3) A policeman killed a bus driver in Onitsha and Onitsha people were already fed up of northerners because of Boko Haram attacks. They found out that the policeman was a northerner and they immediately began attacking northerners.
Now, you have admitted that the red alert is justified because of the threat of violence in the north, but you said that your grievance is that it should have been confined to the north.
Do you really think that the police has not learnt from previous incidents? Don't you know that this is why the red alert is national? The police has now realised that there is a danger that there could be reprisal attacks and they are preparing for that, is there anything wrong in that?
Many southern/Christian youths have declared that they are ready to teach northerners/Muslims that no one has a monopoly of violence and I think that's what's behind the reprisal attacks. If there's violence in the north today and southerners/Christians are attacked, then there's a high probability of reprisals in the south. It is the job of the police to prevent these two things from happening and to ensure that they do not escalate if they do occur.
The US has just issued a travel advisory to its citizens, despite the fact that it's citizens have not been attacked. They did not wait for their citizens to be attacked first before issuing the advisory.
Similarly, most people would not have expected that there would have been reprisal attacks in Onitsha. There have been riots in the north for decades, but we haven't really had these reprisal attacks until the 2000s and the police have learnt that they should not wait until there are attacks before they take action and that these attacks can occur in any state
That's lessons learnt and there's absolutely nothing wrong with what the police have done. They've simply done their job
MetaPhysical: Yeah, but these are reprisal attacks in South to avenge victims of religious attacks in North.
These samples cannot be counted as religious attack. South has never had a religious attack even though Muslims and Christians cohabit in communities all over South.
If there is intelligence that oil workers would be abducted and oil pipelines and operations would be attacked by militants, will the IGP issue a nationwide red alert?
Have you read the first article that I posted? Let's talk after you read that article (the Danish cartoon article).
Iran: Reconsider travelling to Nigeria, US warns citizens
Published January 6, 2020
Adelani Adepegba, Abuja
Following the Friday killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in a drone airstrike, the United States has cautioned Americans to reconsider travelling to or across Nigeria.
The US Embassy in Nigeria, in a statement on its website, admonished American citizens to review their personal security measures, be prudent and keep a low profile.
Stating that it had no specific security threat information, the mission advised US nationals in Nigeria to stay alert in public places, including schools, hospitals, government facilities, places of worship, tourist locations, and transportation hubs.
The security advisory, which was dated January 3, 2020, also asked them to review and alter travel routes and times to reduce time and place predictability.
It read, “Due to recent world events, U.S. citizens should review their personal security measures. While we have no specific threat information, it is prudent to remind ourselves of the following personal security actions to follow on a regular basis.
“Actions to take: Be aware of your surroundings; keep a low profile; avoid crowds and demonstrations; exercise caution when walking or driving at night; carry proper identification; review your personal security plans and monitor local media for updates.”
Octopusssy: What is the capacity of the current second Niger bridge?
The Second Niger Bridge is still under construction. This is a video of the Niger Bridge and you can see that it's too narrow and in my opinion, should have been replaced a long time ago.
This is the official website of the 2nd Niger Bridge which is still under construction. You can get all the details on the website. You can also see pictures/videos of the work that has been done so far.
Politics › Re: . by naptu2: 12:00pm On Jan 06, 2020*. Modified: 1:00pm On Jan 06, 2020
Octopusssy: This should be interesting to compare. However my challenge with these made in Nigeria products are they are often more expensive the biggest case in point being the local rice. It makes no sense that Abakaliki rice cost more than imported rice. So where is now the benefit of patronising home made products?
They are usually more expensive because of poor infrastructure and the "Nigerian condition". The producers have to face problems like lack of electricity (cost of maintaining and fuelling generators), poor transportation systems, policemen that extort money from motorists, etc.
However, there are efforts to address these problems, the example I gave with railway being one of them. There's also an Aba Independent Power Project and efforts to use solar power to reduce dependence on the national grid.
Octopusssy: It's Aba? I told someone who travelled to Anambra to buy me Aba made shoes. I want to compare them to the China made ones sold in Balogun.
Yes, Aba. They recently set up an automated shoe factory with Chinese help. No need to buy Chinese shoes again. I'll post more about the factory later.
Octopusssy: The 3rd Niger Bridge will be like the one in the picture? For real??
The second picture is of a car carrier train (the first picture is of a car carrier truck). Notice the difference in the number of vehicles that each can carry.
That previous article about killings in Onitsha due to the riots about the Danish cartoons was from 2006. This report below is from 2012. These are the kind of things that the IGP is trying to prevent.
Anambra And Delta States, Still Tense As Northerners Flee Onitsha After Police Killing There was still tension this afternoon in Onitsha, the commercial city of Anambra State, and Asaba the capital of Delta State, following a clashes and reprisal attacks against northerners in Onitsha in which two Hausas may have been killed.
BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORK FEB 09, 2012
There was still tension this afternoon in Onitsha, the commercial city of Anambra State, and Asaba the capital of Delta State, following a clashes and reprisal attacks against northerners in Onitsha in which two Hausas may have been killed.
Bloody clashes sparked by a police killing of bus driver in Onitsha was connected to the incessant killing of the Igbos in the Northern part of the country by the Boko Haram sect.
Commercial and vehicular activities were disrupted in ever-busy Onitsha during the clashes as people scampered for their lives.
In Asaba, the ‘B’ Divisional Police Station of the Delta State Police Command became a refugee camp as scores of Nigerians of Northern origin fled into it for protection.
When this reporter visited the Command, there were over 200 of the returnees from Onitsha at the police station, and at least six of them were spotting machete injuries. They were treated at the police clinic. There was panic in the popular Abraka area, a district that most northerners in Asaba reside in and carry out economic activities, as the refugees were being brought in batches.
Although there was no form of attack in the area, sources said hoodlums had cashed in on the confusion to unleash mayhem on some northerners in Asaba. One of the injured claimed he was attacked by hoodlums who dispossessed him of his motorcycle, cell phone and ATM card.
There was a huge sigh of relief from the general anxiety when the police started patrolling the area through to the River Niger head bridge to prevent the crisis from spreading into Asaba as well as douse the mounting tension around Abraka area.
The Divisional Police Officer in-charge of ‘B’ Division, Usman Yusuf assured that the situation was already being controlled. He said the police would do everything possible to protect lives and property in the area and ensure that nobody was attacked irrespective of place of region.
The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Charles Muka, described Asaba as “peaceful,” stressimg there was no crisis between the Hausa and Ibo communities in Asaba. “It was Onitsha we heard that there is misunderstanding between the Hausa and Ibo communities not in Asaba and as I talk to you now our men have taken position in all Hausa settlements in Asaba and its environs so there is no cause for alarm,” he said.
Muka debunked rumours of any killing in Asaba as according to him. “No single person lost his or her life in Asaba regarding that issue,” he stated.
Meanwhile, faced with unprecedented crimes in Warri, the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Mamman Tsafe, has relocated to Warri area of the state. Armed robbery and kidnapping have become almost a daily affair in Warri and its environs.
This is the reverse of the earlier article I posted and it refers to some of the previous violence that I mentioned. This time it's northerners attacking southerners in retaliation for attacks against northerners in the south.
In 1999 and 2004, southerners and northern Christian in Kano were attacked in reprisal for the killing of northern Muslims in some southern cities.
Most of the specific examples that I’m looking for occurred between 1999-2001 and it will be difficult to find those ones because most Nigerian websites that existed at that time no longer exist. However, this unfortunate incidents have occurred so many times that there are many more recent examples that I can post. This is one of them.
Danish cartoons and reprisal violence in Onitsha
At least 120 killed in sectarian strife in Nigeria
Christians deface mosques in lingering reaction to cartoon controversy
updated 2/23/2006 6:07:11 PM ET
ONITSHA, Nigeria — Christians in this southern Nigerian city burned Muslim corpses and defaced wrecked mosques Thursday after days of sectarian strife that has killed more than 120 people across the country.
With 80 people killed, Onitsha has borne the brunt of the violence that followed weekend protests over the publication of cartoons of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.
A Muslim district of about 100 homes was burned to the ground, and crumpled corrugated tin roofs lay on top of the remains of smoldering houses Thursday.
Ifeanyi Ese, a 34-year-old Christian, stood amid the concrete rubble of a mosque. “We don’t want these mosques here anymore. These people are causing all the problems all over the world because they don’t fear God,” he said.
He angrily scrawled “Mohammed is a man, but Jesus is from above” with a burned stick on a shattered wall.
At least nine charred bodies lay in dirt streets as passers-by hurried past, holding cloths to their noses against the stench. Three other bodies burned on a pyre of flaming tires.
Muslims flee city About 5,000 Muslims fled the city and took refuge across the Niger River in the neighboring town of Asaba. Several hundred sat beneath trees at a police barracks there, asking for help to travel northward as babies wailed.
Trucks that usually carry fruit and other goods to market were packed with Muslims heading north. It was not known how many Muslims lived in Onitsha.
Adam Mohamed, a 40-year-old Muslim motorcycle mechanic, said mobs attacked and robbed Muslims as they fled across a bridge connecting the two cities.
“Some were killed. Others were thrown from the bridge into the water,” Mohamed said. “These people attacked us, burned our mosques and killed our people. But by God’s grace, I escaped.”
Renewal of old violence Thousands of Nigerians have died in sectarian strife since 2000, when mostly Muslim northern states began implementing Islamic Shariah law. Nigeria’s 130 million people are almost entirely split between the two faiths, with Christians a majority in the south.
The most recent killings began when Muslim protests against the cartoons Saturday in the northern city of Maiduguri turned violent and 18 people, mostly Christians, were slain.
Twenty-five died in similar violence in the northern city of Bauchi, sparking reprisals against Muslims in Onitsha.
A spokeswoman for the Nigerian Red Cross, Umo Okon, said 925 people were killed, injured or displaced in violence in Onitsha over the past two days.
Emeka Umeh, who heads Civil Liberties Organization, a leading human rights group, said at least 60 people were killed in Onitsha Tuesday, followed by 20 Wednesday.
Many Muslims in the city Thursday seemed resigned to their fate.
‘All we can do is run’ “The prophet told us to accept what happens to us because it is our destiny,” said Abdul Salaam Danbuzu, a 26-year-old shepherd from neighboring Niger. “We’re a small community and now we must all leave. All we can do is run.”
Gov. Chris Ngige extended a curfew imposed on Onitsha to the nearby towns of Nnewi and the state capital of Awka, where Muslim northerners were attacked and killed Wednesday, local government radio reported.
Deaths also were reported by residents in violence Wednesday against Muslims in Enugu, a mainly Christian and ethnic Igbo-dominated city about 60 miles north of Onitsha.
The latest outbreak of fighting is the worst to hit Nigeria since 2004, when Muslim-Christian skirmishes in northern Nigeria’s Plateau and Kano states killed more than 700 people.
The cartoons that reignited Muslim-Christian tension in Nigeria have become the object of protests around the world since they were published in a Danish newspaper. One caricature shows Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban with a lit fuse.
Islam widely holds that representations of Muhammad are banned for fear they could lead to idolatry.
“The Muslims brought this fracas,” said Ezekiel Haledon, a Christian, looking at a burned body in a potholed street in Onitsha, its teeth bared by scorched lips.
“It’s not a Christian act to kill your neighbor,” he said. “But it’s like that.”
1. What is the alert from IGP for? Is it terror, religious uprising from muslims or shiites?
You are master of history, we come to you for recalls from national archives.
2. Can you give me a recall of a time we had religious riot in South?
I'm on the road at the moment and I don't just want to tell you about this thing. I want you to read it for yourself. (It's kind of difficult typing on this bumpy road).
But I'll give you a short response.
1) The IGP says that it's in response to intelligence reports. We don't yet know the contents of those reports.
2) These things might start out as religious crisis, but they quickly become ethnic crises. There was an instance when there was a religious crisis in the north and corpses were brought back to Onitsha and there was violence against northerners as a result.
During the 2001 violence against northerners in Nigeria, there was violence southerners in Kano as a consequence
MetaPhysical: You are correct! I got the info after the fact. Matter of fact, I have no priviledge access to classified info. What I do is analyse the info to learn my own lesson from it.
Anytime there is public info on security alert I know US has a copy of it.....more times than not the intelligence was dispatched from them to our National Security Adviser, who then forwards to security apparatus.
US always send advisory if the intelligence is pregnant with babies. On issues like we are discussing now US will issue advisory and close its Abuja embassy....but will leave Lagos open.
Since this new face off, I am yet to see any advisory from US.
I am not one of those condemning the IGP for doing his work. I believe going by precedence and some pockets of rallies in North already chanting death to America (assuming its true) an alert is indeed required. However, i have problem withbhim stretvhing the alert to cover Nigeria as a whole.
It was not issued based on intelligence on terror, otherwise a US advisory would have gone out.
It was issued based on precedence. That precedence has known limits. IGP insulted South by including us in his alert. Boss, This is my issue with IGP.
naptu2: The IGP was right to take this action and he would have been right to take this action even if he hadn't gotten intelligence reports that there would be trouble.
There have often been riots and protests in Nigeria over things that do not have anything to do with Nigeria and the IGP is right to take action to prevent this and to stop it as soon as it starts. It's also right that this should be a nationwide alert because riots in the north have led to violence in the south when corpses were returned to the south for burial. Violence in the south have also led to violence in the north when corpses were returned for burial.
This red alert should mean that riot policemen are ready to move at short notice. It should mean that police commanders like DPOs, Commissioners and AIGs should meet with religious, traditional and other community leaders to get them to talk to their people on the need to maintain peace. It should also mean that police commanders should be on the look out for any signs of trouble, so that they can nip it in the bud. Lastly, it should mean that policemen are discreetly deployed to protect vulnerable places and high value targets like churches, embassies, etc.
MetaPhysical: You are correct! I got the info after the fact. Matter of fact, I have no priviledge access to classified info. What I do is analyse the info to learn my own lesson from it.
Anytime there is public info on security alert I know US has a copy of it.....more times than not the intelligence was dispatched from them to our National Security Adviser, who then forwards to security apparatus.
US always send advisory if the intelligence is pregnant with babies. On issues like we are discussing now US will issue advisory and close its Abuja embassy....but will leave Lagos open.
Since this new face off, I am yet to see any advisory from US.
I am not one of those condemning the IGP for doing his work. I believe going by precedence and some pockets of rallies in North already chanting death to America (assuming its true) an alert is indeed required. However, i have problem withbhim stretvhing the alert to cover Nigeria as a whole.
It was not issued based on intelligence on terror, otherwise a US advisory would have gone out.
It was issued based on precedence. That precedence has known limits. IGP insulted South by including us in his alert. Boss, This is my issue with IGP.
If your issue is with the alert covering the whole of Nigeria, then I've already addressed that. I'll tag you in the post
MetaPhysical: Boss, Im very familiar with this case. This is around same time Kabiru Sokoto escaped jail and then he was recaptured and there was heightened tension that bokoharam would hit Abuja to break him out. Coincidentally a large cache of ammos and grenade launchers were found in a Lebanese home in Abuja.
I remember well. The guy is not Revolutionary Guard member but Hezbollah member who was trained in a IRG camp in Lebanon.
There is more to the story, space is not enough here to tell it.
Anyway, Isreali contractors were providing intelligence and reconnaisance for Jonathan.
They twisted the story to say IRG was in Nigeria.
Hezbollah had field agents in Mali, in Libya, in Egypt, Somalia, Kenya. They enter into hot zones and capitalize on terror. Why? They fund their operations back home through mercenary or terrorism franchise in places with large musljm population. They use religion to camouflage their intent.
I wrote somewhere on a thread today that terrorism has morphed from war of religion to a war of profit gain...capitalism!
Hezbollah brought ISWAP in to join bokoharam.
Also, before this guy was caught or bwfore the Abuja ammo was discovered they had shipped in many deliveries that got to deatination siluccessfully. If their intent was US or Israel they had plenty opportunity to cause damage ahead of the arrest.
If our intelligence was good and reliable Israelis should not have been a consultant for our national intelligence programme....nor should the word of a foreign consultant find its way into our national policy.
I believe IGP has work to do. This one is unjustified.
Trust me, if he had any intelligence of a attack on US asset in Nigeria it would follow behind an advisory at the US Consulate advising its citizens of danger.
So far i have not seen any advisory from US in Nigeria.
Were you aware when the Nigerian Government got intelligence reports from the US that led to the arrest of these men, or did you find out after the fact? I say this because I remember very well that this same strange behaviour that is playing out today also occurred in 2010. Lots of Nigerians were sayin that Nigeria should release the men, what have we got to do with Iran, etc. The fact is that you do not know if the Nigerian Government has gotten intelligence reports from the US that there would be a problem. You will only find out after the fact.
Secondly, nobody here has been able to show what the IGP has done wrong. The IGP has taken action to prevent violence and people are saying that he should not have taken any action, yet if there's violence tomorrow, the same people will blame the IGP.
All I see here are people that are too eager to crow that Nigeria is not important (that may be true) and the police is incompetent (that may also be true) but the fact still remains that it is the job of the police to prevent violence and to protect Nigerians. These people are not looking at the common sense fact that the IGP has taken action to protect Nigerians and there is no negative to this action. Placing Nigerian policemen on red alert will not create a problem for Nigerians, but failure to place policemen on red alert when there are intelligence reports that there will be problem is simply foolish.
We'll be the first to complain tomorrow if there is violence and it emerges that the police got intelligence reports about it and did nothing.
MetaPhysical: I believe IGP has work to do. This one is unjustified.
Right from your first post you have not provided anything to show that the IGP was not justified to place policemen on red alert given what has happened in the past and what happened yesterday. In fact, you have ignored all evidence of the history of violence caused by incidents like the Iran-Iraq War, the Danish cartoons, etc. Quite frankly, I will trust intelligence received by the IGP over intelligence received by a Nairalander. Even the fact that you have not seen any intelligence report from the Americans does not mean that the IGP has not seen intelligence report from the Americans. There is absolutely nothing wrong in the IGP taking action to protect Nigerians (Nigeria is not even the only country that has put its police force on high alert. This is easy to see, but it's just that Nigerians have a low opinion of themselves.
The IGP was right to take this action and he would have been right to take this action even if he hadn't gotten intelligence reports that there would be trouble.
There have often been riots and protests in Nigeria over things that do not have anything to do with Nigeria and the IGP is right to take action to prevent this and to stop it as soon as it starts. It's also right that this should be a nationwide alert because riots in the north have led to violence in the south when corpses were returned to the south for burial. Violence in the south have also led to violence in the north when corpses were returned for burial.
This red alert should mean that riot policemen are ready to move at short notice. It should mean that police commanders like DPOs, Commissioners and AIGs should meet with religious, traditional and other community leaders to get them to talk to their people on the need to maintain peace. It should also mean that police commanders should be on the look out for any signs of trouble, so that they can nip it in the bud. Lastly, it should mean that policemen are discreetly deployed to protect vulnerable places and high value targets like churches, embassies, etc.
MetaPhysical: Thanks for the lengthy response and the care you put into its clarification.
I do not recall at any time in the history of Nigeria when a clash between West and Arabs or entities in MidEast has resulted in any wave of disturbance in the entire Sovereign State of Nigeria. Usually any uprising in support of MidEast and Arab sentiments has been narrowed to the North.
On that basis, this nationwide alert is unecessary. The IGP should have followed precedence. In particular, there are Shiites in North who out of sympathy and spiritual allegiance might come out to support Iran. Still, their actions, even as they rally for release of their leader, Zakzaky, has so far never exceeded the Northern boundaries.
It is an act of incompetence that the IGP would throw out a blanket order without an actionable intelligence to base his alert on. I do not mind him being proactive for volatile North....I take offense to him extendimg the alert to restive South.
Since we are talking about Iran, a foreign nation. Assuming Iran intends any harm for Western assets in Nigeria, their reach, skill, knowledge and operational strategy to deploy stealthily and carry out a terror is all too high level for Nigerian Police to detect or thwart....it should be an assignment for Nigerian Army.
This is one of the members of the Iranian Republican Guards that was arrested while trying to smuggle mortars, rockets and other arms into Nigeria. He and his partners were arrested in Lagos in 2010, while their accomplices were arrested in Kano and Abuja. https://www.nairaland.com/557584/irans-revolutionary-guard-charged-nigeria
Nigerian security forces were also placed on red alert in 2003 when they got intelligence reports that terrorists planned to attack US and Israeli assets in Lagos.
You don't expect the IGP to get intelligence reports that there would be violence and then he'll sit down, cross his legs, fold his arms, twiddle his thumbs and do nothing. We may not be fans of the police, but we should understand the rare occasions that they take action to protect our lives. This is absolutely what I expect from any inspector general of police. This is his job.
Politics › Re: Iran: Shi’ites, Others Protest In FCT, Burn US Flag, Block Highway by naptu2(op): 9:27pm On Jan 06, 2020
