Boko Haram bomb factory find

After the United Nations House was bombed in Abuja on Friday, August 26th 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan summoned the heads of the Security agencies to an emergency meeting in Aso Villa.

These included the National Security Adviser, (NSA) General Owoye Azazi; the Inspector General of Police (IG), Mr Hafiz Ringim and the Director General of the State Security Services (SSS), Mr Ita Ekpenyong.

That the president was furious with them over the little being done to rein in the bold and violent activities of the Boko Haram extremist Islamic terrorist group and others , which have been wreaking havoc in Abuja, Suleija, Borno, Plateau, Bauchi and other states in the Nigerian North East, is an understatement. They came out of the meeting frightened that they were on the verge of losing their jobs.

Probably as a result of this the SSS became more proactive than we have seen of it since the days of the military. Within the space of one week, the Service announced the arrest of two individuals who colluded with one Mamman Nur still at large to bomb the UN House. The Boko Haram suspects were named as Babagana Kwaljima and Babagana Mali.

On Wednesday, September 7th, the Service also went public with the encouraging news that a make-shift house where improvised explosive devices (IED’s) were being manufactured had been uncovered in Suleija, Niger State. In fact, newsmen were taken to one Hayin Uku village which is also curiously known as “Chechenya” (perhaps after a district in the Russian Republic where Islamic militants pushing for independence have conducted bloody campaigns for over a decade).

Among the items found at the site were a gas cylinder, a battery connected to a detonator, a locally made revolver, gun butt, two knives, ten GSM handsets with SIM cards, a ceiling fan coil, two laptop computers and unused 37 metallic engine oil filters. Other discoveries were two metallic filters primed for bombing; two metallic cylinders; one clock connected to a primed bladeless ceiling fan with 9 volts batteries ready for use, some pieces of shrapnel, a Honda Civic car with Borno State registration number AG94MNG, two hundred (200) pieces of detonators, some detonating cords (red colour), a Sony remote control; five battery chargers; and a black bag containing detonating cables.

It was also disclosed that six culprits had been arrested in connection with the facility. The security agents found out that it was in this outfit that the bombs that were used to blast the INEC compound in Suleija and the bombing of a church were made. Both blasts wreaked a high toll in human lives lost and injuries recorded. From the look of things, more explosives had been assembled waiting for the opportune time and targets for their deployment. Among the many victims of the terrorists were four policemen killed in cold blood.

This bust was a very important milestone in the quest to unmask those behind the spate of terrorist attacks on Nigeria and their staging posts. The big surprise, however, was that it took such a long time for the facility to be unmasked.  A place with such obvious name depicting a terrorist world renowned enclave should have pricked the suspicion of even ordinary citizens, let alone undercover police agents.

That it took the personal intervention of the president for the Service to get going shows the high level of our lack of seriousness and preparedness for the new daunting challenge of coping with terrorism which stares us in the face. Neither the citizenry nor even those employed to secure the nation are vigilant over security matters.

The reason for this is not farfetched. Most security agents only use their uniform or ID cards as springboards to look for money. Reports say the security services are now peopled by staff who only got the job because of who they knew. Very few people are interested in doing the job. All eyes are on money, money and yet more money.

Unless this trend is checked and the agencies look inward for self-sanitisation, every Nigerian will become a potential victim of terrorist attacks.

We hope the Services will not go back to sleep after the euphoria of the Suleija Boko Haram bomb factory find.