By Muyiwa Adetiba
A couple of weeks ago, we all woke up to find that our favourite newspapers were off the newsstands. This was something we had not seen for a while, and it took many of us by surprise. Many reasons flew around; many of them too preposterous to mention here. The following day brought some reprieve but not much. At least, I was able to get Vanguard. A phone call to a newspaper executive disclosed that some soldiers had disrupted the supply flow. Again, many theories were propounded as the newspapers were left to lick their wounds. Later that evening, two days after the first seizure, two good days during which bemused readers were left to wild theories and speculations, two days of huge economic losses, the Presidency and Army spokesmen ‘cleared’ the air. No, the press was not being gagged. It was a security lead that was being followed and everything would return to normalcy soon.

Anybody who knows about the newspaper business knows how financially precarious it is. Many live from day to day. Even the more financially stable ones rely on daily sales to ease their cash flow and keep production going. Still, it was a sacrifice they would gladly make for genuine security reasons. I will be the last to buck any security directive given the current state of the nation, but you still wonder if the operation could not have been handled in a more humane way that would have mitigated the heavy financial losses.

A week later, the plane of Rotimi Amaechi, the Governor of Rivers State, was grounded in Kano where he had gone to commiserate with his colleague over the death of the Emir of Kano.

Again, the reason given was vague, couched under security reasons. I am personally not one for this private jet nonsense. Nigeria has not grown bigger since the days when even the most flamboyant politicians flew on commercial flights. Now every Governor, Minister and party leader think private jet when they want to move around. But that’s another story for another time. You wonder if the Ameachi incident, given that he is a governor, would not have been handled in a quieter, more discrete, more decent way. And why Ameachi again? Was his the only plane that landed in Kano? We should not unwittingly make a victim out of someone whose very company makes him part of the problem. Besides, it would be sad if we started hiding political manoeuvres and intimidation under the guise of security.

Before all these was an incident at the Murtala Mohammed Airport. Passengers who wanted the use of the airport at the end of April, suddenly found themselves in the midst of a king-size chaos. This particular evening, cars were not allowed to approach the airport either to drop passengers or to pick those who had just come in. Only one or two shuttle buses were on the ground for such a massive movement of people and luggage. Many people missed their flights in the big chaos. Many of them would have needed to connect flights. Many of them would have come to Lagos from other parts of the country. Many would be foreigners whose first impressions would shape their perception of Nigeria forever.

Those who paid for trolleys found they were not allowed the use of those trolleys beyond a certain point. You can imagine passengers with three or four suitcases being denied the use of trolleys. I know of a passenger who had her lovely suitcase ruined on that night. The wheels came off on the rough, uneven road making the suitcase a heavy load that had to be dragged on the floor. Of course it was torn by the time she got to the car. This was three good hours after she had retrieved her luggage from the conveyor belt. Her family at home stayed glued to the network news hoping to find the cause for the chaos. Were there terrorists at the airport? Had the Nation’s main gate-way been invaded and captured? Again, all sorts of speculations flew around. Some even said Dame Jonathan was in Lagos and was scheduled to use the airport. Poor lady! She was nowhere near Lagos on that fateful day. In any case, this confusion was to last for at least a week, although on a lower scale. When the gods finally decided to speak to us lesser mortals, we were told ‘it was for security reasons’.

A week before this, I had just come from Israel, probably one of the most security conscious countries in the world. We were through with passport control, immigration and luggage collection in less than 30 minutes of our disembarking. A vehicle was at the entrance to pick us up. The same thing happened when we were about to leave.

I use this example to show that security does not have to be very disruptive. Like everything in life, planning and thinking things through matter a lot. After all, the massive disruption to livelihood and movement after the first bomb blast in Nyayan didn’t prevent the second blast. All the checkpoints and the gnarling traffic didn’t stop it from happening again.

These disruptions in the name of security can make the citizenry cynical or even un- co-operative. Many of the peasants in the North-East fear and distrust the military almost as much as the terrorists. Again, someone lost his life in Ekiti State because of this over zealous, often brutal approach to security. It need not be so.

On a final note, security and partisan politics should not mix. It happened in Rivers State; it appeared to have happened in Kano State. If they continue to mix, the former will lose as our belief in the security apparatus will be further dented. And the Nation will be the ultimate loser.