Abuja – Ahead of Nigeria’s 52nd anniversary of independence celebration on Oct. 1, the Eagle Square, Abuja, the usual venue of the celebrations, is calm with no sign of activity.

A check  at the venue on Saturday showed that the usual rehearsals and heavy presence of security men ahead of previous celebrations were missing.

The Minister of interior, Abba Moro, had on Sept. 3, announced that 2012’s celebration would be a low-key affair.

He said the decision was in line with the transformation agenda of the current administration which frowns at flamboyant and unnecessary spending.

However, some of Abuja residents, said the planned low-key celebration was not unconnected with the security situation in the country.

Mr Wale Olaye, a passer-by at the square, said it was better not to celebrate than to celebrate and have casualties.

“You never can tell what will happen; you don’t know who is planning what, so, the best thing is to cancel march past and other activities associated with the day.

“We don’t want to lose more lives to dastardly attacks; we will all pray for Nigeria that day in our respective homes.’’

Another respondent, Oliver Amah, said there was no need for such celebrations where security personnel would outnumber the number of people who had come to have fun.

According to Amah, many Nigerians are still living with bombphobia due to the Oct 1, 2010 bomb blasts.

“It will be so regimented that the fun will not be there.

“Besides, Nigerians are afraid of such massive gatherings as a result of the 2010 incident.’’ (NAN)

Posted by admin on Sep 30 2012. Filed under Latest Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry