WHEN on July 12, 2009, the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND, bombed Atlas Cove, a sprawling Federal Government owned oil facility in the heart of Lagos, it was a shocked nation that suddenly woke up to the realisation that the country as a whole was no longer safe from attack by the Niger Delta militants who, up till then, had restricted their attacks to the oil facilities in that region.

But Nigerians were soon to learn bitterly that they have more than the Niger Delta militants to contend with. They have since witnessed other forms of terrorism. In the Southeast, a group of young men led by a notorious criminal by name Osisi ka nkwu (which literally translated, means the tree that is tougher than palm tree) laid siege on Abia State from where they spread their dragnets to neighbouring states, kidnapping all that came their way and demanding ransoms running into millions of Naira.

In Plateau and Borno states, religious fundamentalists unleashed terror on inhabitants, wiping out whole villages and destroying lives and properties. Though the ethnic crises in Jos, the Plateau State capital, had been on long before 2009, it has since assumed very serious dimension. In Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, a group of religious fundamentalists that goes by the name Boko Haram, has besieged the ancient city, bombing public buildings and facilities in the state with impunity and generally dictating affairs.

Perhaps, to prove their dominance of affairs in the country, the terrorists went further to bomb the nation’s capital territory, Abuja. As Nigerians celebrated the nation’s 50th Independence Anniversary on October 1, 2010, two car bomb blasts ripped through the city killing as many as 15 people and injuring several others. The MEND later claimed responsibility. Again, on December 31, 2010, the terrorists bombed a busy area in the territory, killing no less than 30 people with hundreds of others injured. Few hours after the inauguration of President Jonathan on May 29, 2011, another bomb blast shook parts of the city.

Just before the general elections began all over the country, another bomb blast ripped through the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Suleija, Nasarawa State, leaving no less than 10 people, including youth corpers, dead and scores of others injured.  Again, a bomb thrown into a campaign rally at Suleija left three people dead and no less than 21 others injured. Amidst all these, there has been a resurgence of armed robbery, serial killings and political assassinations as well as other violent attacks on citizens across the country.

Reacting to the Suleija bombing, President Goodluck Jonathan ordered security agencies to intensify efforts to protect the INEC.  But it is becoming obvious that the so-called security agencies can hardly be relied upon to secure anybody in this country. What with the incessant clashes and brawls among them. In recent times, members of the Armed Forces and the Police have been locked in a deadly combat of killings and reprisal attacks which have left many dead and maimed on both sides. The latest act of savagery was between a group of soldiers and the police along the Badagry-Lagos Expressway.

Briefly told, the incident that led to the clash started on Sunday, May 22, 2011 when a group of policemen on patrol reportedly opened fire on a vehicle whose driver refused to stop at their flag down.  One of the passengers, a soldier attached to 242 Reece Battalion at Ibereko, a suburb of Badagry, was killed as a result of the shooting.

On Tuesday, May 24, 2011, the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in charge of Badagry Division, CSP Samuel Salihu and the Divisional Crime officer, Samson Okedusi, went to the Army Barracks to straighten things out with the authorities in a bid to forestall any unpleasantness. It was even told that they were invited by the military authorities to that meeting based on a call to them by the DPO after the shooting incident. But on their way back, they were ambushed and shot dead by some people suspected to be colleagues of the slain soldier. Some soldiers from the Division later went on rampage killing as many as six policemen and eight civilians.

That would not be the first time such clashes had occurred among the security agencies. In October 2005, a policeman reportedly assaulted a military officer in mufti at Ojuelegba and the soldier promptly went back to his Abati Barracks location and mobilized his colleagues who attacked the Area C Police Station in Surulere.

Mr. MAC DURUGBO, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Lagos.

-Vanguard

Posted by admin on Jun 27 2011. Filed under Headlines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry