It is to be expected that some journalists and public affairs commentators are placing a simplistic interpretation on the bombings by MEND in Abuja during the 50th celebration of Nigeria's independence that claimed the lives of 14 Nigerians and injured many others.
It is to be expected that some journalists and public affairs commentators are placing a simplistic interpretation on the bombings by MEND in Abuja during the 50th celebration of Nigeria's independence that claimed the lives of 14 Nigerians and injured many others.
They have chosen to emphasize the bombings in Abuja as being indicative of the worsening security situation in the country, and in the same category as the Boko Haram crises in Maiduguri and Bauchi, the riots in Jos, and the kidnappings in Aba.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
They are also taking the simplistic approach of putting the blame for the worsening insecurity on Nigerian security organizations and institutions, a position not helped by reports that United States Intelligence gave advance warning of the Independence Day bombings to our security operatives.
Jonathan Goodluck as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Commander in Chief of its armed officers is the chief security officer of the nation and the implication of this line of reasoning is that since these things are happening under his watch, then maybe he is also to blame.
To worsen matters for Jonathan Goodluck, the bombings in Abuja are coming some few weeks after he effected changes in the leadership of all the security institutions and organizations in the country, changes that are still reverberating through the ranks of those institutions and organizations.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });
And the sum total of this implied blame game is that if Goodluck Jonathan cannot handle security threats coming from the Niger Delta region, which is supposed to be his own backyard, how can he be expected to address other security threats across the nation?
It is one thing for a man not to be able to take care of his own household and secure them from harm, but quite another thing for a visitor of his to die or be injured whilst in his care, and in the Abuja scenario these visitors were heads of states and representatives of foreign governments.
Such deaths or injuries in the past have been known to have started world wars and wars between nations, and in the case of Nigeria would certainly have exposed us to both internal and external crises had any of these foreign dignitaries’ been killed or maimed or injured by the bombs planted by MEND.
Foreign heads of states and other dignitaries including investors visiting Nigeria now do so at their own peril unless like the Americans they can make their own security arrangements, otherwise they stand the risk of being bombed or kidnapped or caught up in some crises.
Going by the fact that children, journalists and NYSC members are no longer immune from kidnappings in the South East and added to the religious and ethnic crises in the North East and Central regions, the bombings in Abuja have to be the icing on the cake to paint a picture of complete insecurity in Nigeria.
Since Jonathan Goodluck is facing the humiliating prospects of contesting against his former National Security Adviser, Mr. Aliyu Gusau, and also the former military dictator, Ibrahim Babangida, at the PDP Presidential Primaries, the elephant in the room in the 2011 National elections will be security.
Against the background of insecurity, challenges like addressing poverty, improving power generation and distribution, building roads and expanding rail transportation, improving on health care and education quality, and other such issues become irrelevant.
This is much like the tactic adopted by the younger George Bush to win reelection when the prospects of terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda were elevated to the predominant issue, and John Kerry the Democratic Party candidate was painted as being unable to address these security challenges.
In the face of these odds, the challenge for Goodluck Jonathan and his minders will be to correctly read the underlying context and be more proactive on security issues, which will cut off the opportunity for boasting by those who believe they are natural security minders.
It will also not be out of place for the Goodluck Jonathan government to have regular press briefings on security issues so as to put in the public domain such information that will provide fuller context regarding the security situation in the country.
"We must be the change we want to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });