FOR THE RECORDS : Abuja: Yet, Another Blast ... By Orji Uzor Kalu

Nigerians had a horrifying and nerve-wrecking day on Monday when news of yet another bomb blast rocked the nation’s capital. I had thought some semblance of peace had returned when suddenly the entire world was jolted by the news of another bomb blast in Nyanya area of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, which left over 150 persons dead and hundreds wounded. The attack was gruesome and uncalled for. Several hospitals in the territory had a hectic time handling the large numbers of victims of the blast brought to them.
Honestly, my heart has been in deep pain since the sad incident occurred. I remember devoting the greater part of last year writing about the ills in our nation, the harm we have done to our collective psyche by our brutality and lack of love for one another.
When will these mindless killings stop? When will our nation know peace again? When will sanity return to our sickening environment, stifled by greed, avarice and wickedness? When will the brotherly love that had bonded us together to confront the white man to gain our independence return? Where has our humanity as a people gone? Which question will I ask and leave out the other?
Imagine: The place and time chosen by the sons of devil to carry out the devious operation were a bus station and rush hour as workers were hurrying to their various offices. This is height of wickedness.
The level of damage done by the blast was better seen than imagined. The horrors of some of the online videos on the bomb blast could make one’s heart collapse with fright and rage. How could some of us descend to such a bestial level to unleash that magnitude of carnage on their fellow citizens? Something is definitely wrong with our nation.
Some of the things happening in our nation today are totally unNigerian (if there is any word like that), strange and uncharitable. At what time in our national history did Nigerians acquire such wicked heart and notoriety as to kill and maim without blinking the lid? From where did this evil heart come?
I cannot even hazard a guess if asked from where these sons of devil came? Are they truly Nigerians or a species of Nigerians from the pit of hell? Where did they come from? I want to know. Things have come to a hilt and everybody should start asking questions.

Who put the idea in their heads to target innocent commuters? The other day it the blast occurred in a luxury-bus station in the same Abuja. Scores were killed and hundreds wounded. A majority of those killed were from a section of the country. Last Monday, it was at another bus terminal in Nyanya, Abuja. Again, a majority of those killed were from the same section of the country. This raises such critical questions as: What do the attackers really want? Who are those behind them – funding and motivating them? Why do they attack with such rascality and ruthlessness as never witnessed in the history of this country? Do they want to turn Nigeria into another Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq or Pakistan? Are the attacks intended to achieve a political or religious agenda? For how long will the attacks last before they lay down their arms? Why do they find it difficult to come forth to accept the offer by government for a ceasefire and negotiated resolution of the impasse?
I can’t help asking questions, because my mind is running riot. Yes, running riot! Why would it not run riot when it watches every day as innocent people are killed and maimed? It gets to a point the weight of the horrors becomes too much for it to bear. That is the stage in which we are. Those who do not feel any qualms about the goings-on in Nigeria today are animals. There is no human being with conscience that would not feel exactly the way I do. This is why I have continued to wonder why 200 million people would watch with such docility and gullibility as their nation is raped and castrated.
The truth many of us have failed to appreciate is: Nigeria is gradually descending into anarchy. Probably some are waiting for when we start turning guns against one another in the streets before they believe anarchy had set in. In my estimation, Nigeria has acquired the notoriety for killing and maiming. What I call bestiality! It is only those with animal instinct would kill with such insensibility as some do these days. Could anybody have believed that a day would come when our nation would be turned into a killing field? That is exactly what we have today.
The most worrisome part is this: Nobody knows from where the next attack will come. What we thought had become a North east phenomenon has suddenly crept into Abuja – the seat of government, which is supposed to be impregnable to such attacks. Now the question is: If they could attack Abuja with such ease, then, where else is safe? Attacking Abuja is akin to attacking Washington D.C. – the abode of the President of the United States. What atrocity!
Before Monday’s attack in Abuja, there had been five others, making residents fear for dear life. On December 30, 2010, over 12 fun-seekers were killed at a market near the Mogadishu Barracks, Abuja, when a bomb went off. As if that was not enough, the United Nations (UN) building in Abuja was the target of another attack on August 26, 2011. 23 died and 60 injured when a bomb exploded at the complex, raising global outcries. The terrorists took their operations to another level on June 16, 2011 when the Loius Edet House (Force Headquarters, Abuja) was attacked. The audacity of the attackers was visible when a lone suicide-bomber trailing the convoy of a deputy inspector general of police rammed his bomb-laden car into the park of the force headquarters, killing eight persons. This incident happened during the regime of Hafiz Ringim as IGP. Then the mother of all the attacks in Abuja occurred on Christmas Day in 2011 when 40 worshippers at the premises of a Catholic Church in Madalla, Suleija, were killed. Suicide-bombers rammed their car into them as they were leaving the church. The Madalla bombing caused so much stir and rage that I had thought that was going to be the last bombing.
But the incident of August 26, 2012 proved my optimism misplaced, making me rethink the entire thing and see the problem as one beyond the capacity of the government alone to handle. On that fateful day, a blast at the premises of ThisDay newspapers in Jabi, Abuja, killed 37 persons. On June 22, 2012, another blast occurred at the Crystal Nightclub, Wuse II, Abuja. Thank God, no life was lost.
My fear is that the whole thing will turn serial soon if nothing concrete is done to contain it.  Who else will fall victim before we rise up and salvage the situation? School children, market women, soldiers, policemen, worshippers, Christians, Moslems, atheists, pagans, tourists, foreigners, paupers, millionaires, blacks, whites, etc., have fallen victims to these endless attacks. The cost to the nation in terms of human and material losses is gargantuan. Will we allow this evil to continue?
It does not make any sense to me that anybody would carry out endless attacks to drive home his grievances and yet refuse to negotiate. The global practice is for the other party to a conflict to lay down his arms once the other party has given an intention to negotiate. It is only when the negotiation has failed irretrievably that hostilities could continue. But in this case government has continually expressed eagerness to settle the matter amicably. When then the continued killings?
I have taken inventory of the attacks across the nation since 2008 and wish to state unequivocally that we need some respite. Our people cannot be killed unceasingly without the government doing something drastic to protect us. The government owes ever Nigerian the right to adequate security. Where it lacks the capacity to do so the proper thing to do is to own up and allow Nigerians to take steps to protect themselves.
Nevertheless, it is important at this juncture to state that insecurity has persisted, because the people expect the government to do it alone. Security enforcement is a collective responsibility, requiring the support and cooperation of all. The complex nature of our country, including its geographical vastness, makes policing it cumbersome. This is where border-security comes to play. In the United States, it is called Homeland Security. The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States taught them a huge lesson on how to secure themselves from annihilation. They understand what security is all about and what it takes to enforce it. This is why there has not been any major security breach in the U.S. since 9/11.
What I think the federal government of Nigeria should do is to understudy the Unites States’ security architecture, modify it where necessary and adapt it to our environment. After all, Nigeria has practised the U.S. form of government since 1979 and, therefore, should share some things in common. Even Britain and many other European countries have done well in securing themselves. Britain under David Cameron has made security of life and property a top priority.
The Boko Haram phenomenon in Nigeria has assumed a cult-image. As vicious as the sect may be, I do not think that some of the attacks credited to them were actually carried out by them. I suspect some subterranean forces infiltrating the sect to unleash a reign of terror on the nation. Why has government not explored this theory to find out if there is any nexus between the operations of Boko Haram and outside infiltrators? What of local collaborators? There are certainly some persons working with those outside to make matters worse. This is one area government should focus its fight against terror.
Something in me tells me there are persons who the government regard as sacred cows and therefore should not be touched. In matters of security, nobody is too big to be investigated, especially in Nigeria where might is right. Security agencies should look inwards to see if it can pinpoint these people and bring them to book.
I do not believe in the allusion some people make to the north perpetrating insecurity in the country. What do they stand to gain by killing their fellow countrymen? Though there had been a few cases of religious riots in the north, yet none could compare in scope or severity with the recent upheavals and killings.
Those masquerading under the guise of ethnicity to perpetrate evil against our nation and its people should bear in mind that some day they will pay for their wickedness. Why should they allow their selfish, parochial interests to becloud their sense of judgement and humanity?
I have written in this column countless times about 2015 and the place of posterity. I repeat here: 2015 is not within the powers of man to decide. It is within the realm of divineness. It is only God who knows what will happen and whom it will please him to install the President of Nigeria at these critical times. In spite of the agitations by the various geopolitical interest groups in Nigeria the presidency is still God’s to give to whosoever pleases him.
If we should talk about justice, then it will be the turn of Igbo to produce the president in 2015. But circumstances and providence dictate where the pendulum springs. What is paramount to me is the unity of this nation, which must be preserved with whatever we have as a people. We cannot allow enemies of progress to destroy a nation our forbears spent their time and resources and, even, shed their blood to found and nurture. It is easy to beat war drums, but nobody ever cherishes the outcome of any war.
Thank God I witnessed the Nigerian Civil War. Even as a child, I played some role in the war. I saw the sufferings, the killings and the destruction that took place, and have asked God not to allow such recur in my generation.
I saw almost the same gory picture we used to see during the civil war at last Monday’s Nyanya bombing site: Dead bodies littering the whole place as if we were fighting another war.
I pray God not to allow this gathering storm to descend on Nigeria. Let him step into the matter and resolute it his own way, which is always right and just. As for the killers: the day of judgement is not far away.