BOMBINGS IN NIGERIA: WHERE ARE WE HEADED?

With the growing insecurity of lives and properties invoked by the incessant bombings and upheavals in different cities in Nigeria, one is force to wonder where the country is headed. It is disturbing and really embarrassing that while other developing economies are bruising up their knuckles to pull down every stronghold against their advancement as a people, we are adopting vices that have ruined hitherto model economies. Why terrorism; why the bombings? What message are we trying to pass on? Is it not enough that we have bastardized our economy with the instability built up by frequent ethno-religious crises, armed robbery, militancy, and their likes? Why can’t we just let Nigeria be the great country it was destined and designed to be? Why are we so deep into the dung of greed, corruption, hatred, selfishness and mediocrity?

The terrible thing about these bombings is that they are ill-timed and detonated not only to take lives and properties but to incite religious riots and crises; and make a caricature of our security systems. Analyst have postulated that the ease with which these bombing were carried out and the unproductive investigations thereafter, are capable of encouraging more terrorists’ activities in the country.  The Jos Bombings were on Christmas Eve and some happened right inside the church; the New Year Eve’s bombing – even though it went off in a barrack – was rumoured to be in Dunamis Church and beside the New Year celebrations are known to be popular among the Christians. The insecurity sparked up thereafter succeeded in ruining the celebrations for many families; many Christians were scared to attend church services both on Christmas and New Year.

It is disappointing that the trend is getting stormy as we get closer to the 2011 general elections. However, this provides us a link to the solution of the problem in the sense that by understanding the different players in the polity presently, one can easily point their finger to a more specific direction. It is obvious that the tussle for the First Citizen’s job in this country has evolved into a deadly ‘do or die’ affair. Since the days of presidential declarations late last year, Nigerians have been living in fear. The question we need to ask ourselves now is ‘who will benefit most or will be more opportune from a major instability in the country?’Somebody is definitely trying to remind us of how unsafe we are or intimidate us into setting a ground for their dubiousness during the general elections. We all know you can never have credible elections in times of crises, or tension!

It will also serve to point out that as soon as we give these bombings some religious inclinations, the enemy will have succeeded. I don’t believe the Muslims were responsible; or that it was motivated by any form of extremism. We have been living relatively at peace and without such level of massacre for decades, why would our Muslim compatriots just wake up few months to a very controversial PDP primary and start blowing up churches? We have hard tougher times in the past along religious lines; none ever led to bombings, why now? Also, if it were extremists like Boko Haram – as many people suspect – I think they would have owned up by now; at least to take the supposed glory. So let us not allow anybody incite us into a false course; Nigerians are civilised to tolerate one another, irrespective of our ethno-religious diversity.

What we need now, is some actions; we need to make an example of the plotters. Nigerians are getting over-fed with promises and emotional outbursts against our enemies – we need them in our jaws. There are those who have threatened violence; we have enough motives and we know where to search for these bugs that are about ruining our fabric. But this information will do no good if we don’t invest in confirming our suspicions and bringing these evil people to justice. The writing is clear enough on the wall; Nigeria is headed for trouble and if we get there, Ivory Coast’s case will be child’s play. For a country, which should serve as a good example to other African countries – being the head of her region – we should really be disappointed at our sovereignty.  

What? Dokpesi Sues Nigeria’s SSS N100Mn!

There is nobody in a democracy that is above the law; many supposedly influential persons try to pretend they are but the truth is that the arm of the law is too long to make anyone too far from its grip. However, its grip might be a little loose on some wrists, but it grips after all. I was baffled when I read in BBC this evening that Raymond Dokpesi had sued the State Security Service, SSS for damages of about N100 million ($660 000) because he was invited and asked some questions concerning his alleged involvement in the notorious 10/1 bombings in Abuja that claimed at least a dozen of Nigerians. According to the SSS and media, a questionable text message was seen in the phone of one of the suspects demanding that Mr. Dokpesi pays up the sum of N4mn and this supposed message was sent to his phone.


Now, I am not saying he should be branded a key suspect for just that message – after all this is 9ja and everything is possible; but it is not unnatural for the SSS to call him to at least clear his name and tender some explanations. Such actions and steps are what we established the top-echelon security body for – they are commissioned to make inquiries and investigations and no body, irrespective of the height of their political cum financial muscle should be out of their radar.

So why stretch the issue further? Mr Dokpesi was not detained up to the half of the maximum time allowable by the law (that’s about 24hrs), he was not physically harassed as you would expect in a less-media-sensitive or ordinary case in the conventional interrogatory procedures; he was not sent even behind the counter (talk more of bar)...I mean he was just called for questioning and that was basically on invitation – nobody came to arrest him. In fact, he was treated like a gentleman and respected player in the Nigerian politics and media. So what is he actually suing the SSS for?



If you are wise you will recognise unhealthy political propaganda when you see one. Usually they start from something that would have conventionally been ignored by the system but are often tied around people or occasion that the media is attracted to like flies are to sh*t. Then sentiments are addressed not issues; for instance Ciroma and associates would rather discuss how unsafe they feel under the leadership of President Jonathan after the bombings instead of how the culprits could be caught and future occurrence prevented.



Then another thing you will have to look out for is that the incident is nurtured to stay longer than necessary on our headlines but more importantly such headlines are hardly capable of informing the system on how the society can protect itself or address the issue. You would rather read, “Northern leaders Call for the Impeachment (or resignation of blah..blah..blah)after president’s talk on bombing”; “Group decries media Mogul detention on bombings and call on Jonathan to shorn politics by intimidation”; and so on. You will hardly read “10/1 bombing: Police Boss discusses plan”; or “Bombings: Ubumbum in police net”. Then after all sentiments are exhausted without result, some plotters try to drag along the incident using tools that were picked up in the process. The result is that the society is distracted from what they should be addressing and many good men are branded very bad names.

Now throughout the week you will notice that Dokpesi’s case will blind fold our papers and we will find ourselves dwelling so much on the bombings that we might not remember we were celebrating our 50th year of independence and that INEC has a lot of unaddressed issues for 2011. Such are tools of publicity and I am not surprised since famous media persons are involved in this case. However, I must say that I am not against anyone trying to clear their name but suing the SSS for doing their job is not just the way to go about it. Instead is just a good way to make more noise and hook up with cheap publicity. That’s if it is not a chase for extra N100Mn campaign cash. But I know most Nigerians wouldn’t mind sleeping with one eye open to make sure nobody sleep walks them away from the truth...that treachery must be uncapped!

Much ado about what we cannot do

The result of the recent Match between the Golden Eaglet and New Zealand should tell Nigerians that irrespective of the challenge " We Can". This is not just because we scored 5 goals without concealing any or because most of us never saw our goal Keeper up to 10 times in the entire match.The Match is a great pointer because, against what most football analysts, especially the foreign, ones postulated, we had a flawless victory.

The world has always been in the biz of telling us what we can or cannot achieve. The first organization that kicked against the Re-branding project was a foreign media house. They ridiculed the efforts of the Government and even posted a current internet scam by two Nigerians who tried to dupe friends of a notable British politician who was then in the country for a tour. The post was titled "Is that how they intend to Re-brand?" I was pissed off when i read the article.

We are not saying Nigeria is free from scams and fraudsters; but we are saying we are a great nation, with similar socio- economic and -political challenges that are obtainable in other parts of the world. Ours is not of any degree that is so alarming that cannot be experienced in other parts of the world.

More importantly, we are saying we have the chance- we dont need to be given- and we shall make use of it because we can.

Bode's conviction: A new feather to the Rebranding wing

Personally, I believe the prosecution and conviction of two years prison sentence on erstwhile PDP and NPA chieftain, Chief Bode George, is a sign that we are truly rebranding. There was once a time when you could only dream about things like that in the country- a very influential and highly placed member of the dominating political party in prison?

That would have been too much to ask for. So i followed the prosecution, which started sometime in November 2008 with folded hands but with no expectation of anything close to a prison sentence. I thought it would end as Usual- with sanctions to return the alleged N85B, while the bad men go unpunished. So it was a serious surprise when it turned out last Monday that Bode George was sentenced, by a Lagos high court judge, Justice Olubunmi Oyewole, to two years in prison.

This among others is one great achievement the judiciary has made in recent times that has made her the most rebranding-responsive arm of Government. I wish them more successes without intrusion in the future.

Good News great People

Nigeria has been elected as a non-permanent member of the UN security council- the Engine room of the UN. This means; We are considered reputed enough to contribute to security issues of other nations of the world. According to Prof Hassan salihu “it is good to be where things are happening. It means we are one of the big boys in the world" and We also stand a better chance of gunning for permanent membership in the same council.

Especially since we we've been elected severally in the past into the same group. I don't think if we were that bad the world would have us given such a chance of determining the security of people worldwide.However, this development should encourage us to meet up with expectations. It is a challenge on its on because the world is looking to see how we will play the ball which is now in our court.

Cheers to Great Nigeria- Another feather for all of us. This news is good indeed! Or does anybody think otherwise?