Fire razes cars after an explosion near Eagle square in Abuja

By Ben Agande
THE unfortunate incidence of the  twin car bomb that punctuated the Independence day celebration has sharply divided the opinions and reactions of most  Nigerians on the responses of the federal government to both the incidence and the aftermath.

While some political opponents of President Goodluck Jonathan have characterized the incidence as being symptomatic of the failure of leadership which has permeated all the strata of the society in the country, some supporters of the president see in the car bomb, a desperate attempt by those opposed to Jonathan presidency to cause chaos in the land in an attempt to portray the president as not being capable of handling Nigeria’s complexity .

These opinions which have sharply divided the country into two appears to have infected even the National Assembly which is supposed to be the bastion of hope for the Nigerian people.

So when the Senate of the  federal Republic of Nigeria listed the debate of the incidence as one of the orders to be debated  Tuesday, not many people had anticipated with bated breath whether the debate on the floor of the Senate would assume the existing divide in the country or would be tampered by a tinge of patriotism.

It was perhaps the realization of the potentials for the debate to get out of hand that the leadership of the Senate allegedly cautioned senators not to be guided by sentiments but by nationalism in their debates.

Kick starting the debate, the senate majority leader, Senator Teslim Folarim said the bombing was a dastardly act of terrorism which must be frontally tackled by security agencies with a view to averting a recurrence in the future.

For the Deputy Minority Whip, Senator Victor Ndoma Egba, the bomb blast should serve as a wake up call for all security agencies to ensure that such terrorist acts are nipped in the bud in the future. “I joined my colleagues in condemning this barbaric and needless act on a day that all of Nigeria is supposed to be celebrating if not anything, but the unity of the country.

I also join my colleagues to commiserate with the families of those who lost their lives in the bomb blast. I joined others who has made the plea that we must not politicised it” he said.

Contributing to the debate,  the Deputy Majority Whip of the  Senate  Mohammed Maina blamed the blasts on what he referred to as “ security lapses”, adding that “we had been warned  5 days before it happened,  but we were not able to stop it. It is unfortunate that the security operatives could not do their work, but I also blame the authorities for not equipping the security agencies.  However, Mr. president I want to urge the federal government to bring the perpetrators to book”.

Senate Chief Whip Kanti Bello wondered why the presidency was quick to absolve MEND , saying that by their antecedents, MEND was not an organisation that bombing was alien to.

Giving instances  where the alleged terrorist organization had struck in the Niger Delta areas, the Senate Chief Whip said MEND had struck at the residence of the President sometime in the past when he was the Vice President as well as several oil installations that had crippled economic activities in the past.

The debate was not without its drama and intrigues. When Senator Kabiru Gaya was recognised and stood up to make his contribution to the debate, the underlying misgivings almost came to the fore when he accused the president of ‘talking too much’

According to him, the comments of president Goodluck Jonathan are such that could jeopardize investigations, advising the President to henceforth speak less and probably last on the bombings. This comment however appeared to be the straw that would have broken the delicate balance but for the mature response by the Senate president, Senator David Mark who delicately but firmly steered the debate to safer waters.

While the assertion by senator Gaya drew the attention of senators Lee Maeba and James Manager who sought to  challnge him for dragging the name of the President to the mud, the Senate President ruled them out of order when he asserted that “your point of order has no bearing on this matter, Senator Kabiru has not used any offensive language on the president, let us not play politics with the lives  of Nigerians.

Lives have being lost and I truly don’t want  us to join the debate outside , like the Deputy Senate president said, we should moderate our language but truly let us not play politics with the lives of Nigerians”.

Senator Mark’s firm grip on the debate underscore the ever lingering threat that the debate was capable of getting out of hand.

In his remarks to close the debate on the bombings, the Senate President urged politicians and elder statesmen who are expected to be custodian of peace and harmony in the country to desist from making inflammatory statements that would further inflamed passion.

He said, “I am disappointed at the comment being made by elder statesmen concerning these bomb explosions. We have lost lives and the nation’s unity is being threatened and we are politicising it.

This is unfortunate and uncalled for. The issue before us is far threatening and serious, and we should stop politicising it and think of ways to make sure that this needless act does not happen again.”

Senator Mark also urged the security agencies to work round the clock to ensure that the culprits are apprehended and justifiably punished.

“All the culprits must be punished. This is not time for us to hold sentiments, people must be punished for destroying the beautiful celebration that was marred by this needless act” he said.

Though the debate on the incidence had been preceded by fears that the deep schism that has pervaded the country would find a fertile ground in the Senate, the deft handling of proceedings of the day and the maturity displayed by the senators has further reinforced the belief that indeed the Senate and the National Assembly truly represents the bastion of hope for a country where very many vital institutions of government have been overtaken by ethnicity and regional considerations.