TRAGIC THURSDAY

TRAGIC THURSDAY.

I understand that really armed and kitted robbers stormed a bank in Lekki today, shot sporadically causing motorist to flee, duck and abandon their vehicles.  They are reported on social media to have murdered policemen and possibly a passer by before vanishing from the scene Bond-style in a speed boat. 

I want to believe that this occurrence today must have lasted for more than one hour which ought to be sufficient time for emergency numbers to be dialled and security operatives scrambled to the scene. I'm not certain there was any report of other policemen arriving the scene to engage the robbers. A proper response should have included multiple police vehicles, special weapons teams and at least one helicopter.  

I know I've been watching too much television and I'm surely out of my mind but these things are not rocket science.  A well grounded local force would be able to dispatch crafts to pursue the fleeing robbers from the sky and on the water.  Proper intelligence would have entailed a thorough knowledge of every potential landing port or jetty in other to apprehend the criminals covertly but I doubt if these shooting stars would ever be found and brought to justice. 

The people should not be left to fend for themselves and provide their own security. I thought for a second what I would have done if my vehicle was caught up in the chaotic scene in Lekki. Would I have summoned enough courage to turn my vehicle into an assault weapon to cripple the unsuspecting robbers even if I had to face a hailstorm of bullets? That's the stuff of heroes and Hollywood blockbusters. 

The phrase "shooting stars" entered my lexicon sometime during the 2000/2001session of the University of Ibadan. A gang of gun wielding young men probably cultists from other schools shot sporadically in the air and laid siege for several days on the Nnamdi Azikwe and Independence halls of the institution.  I was holed up in my Independence hall room B39 whenever those boys appeared to infuse fear into the students. The school had had it's own unfair share of cult clashes and assassinations in the past which had led to the suspension of academic activity and effectively shut down the campus most times.  

The constant conflicts and rifts within the student union also didn't help with many bloody clashes both real and imagined rocking the very fragile peace that session. Allegations and speculations dominated the news and gossip materials diffusing amongst students.  Many were convinced that the school would be shut down yet again and riot policemen called in to effect that. Some even theorised that the shooting stars were doing the bidding of the then vice chancellor Professor Ayodele Falase; a leading cardiologist in the country with many years of experience. They thought it was a means to intimidate the students and defuse any restlessness. Many cult related incidents at and around that time were attributed to overbearing vice chancellors and professorial cult patrons.  I suppose most of these were never proven. 

The shooting stars squad continued their assault unchecked until a fateful day in the afternoon.  There was a prayer area at the end of B block and on the right side where Muslim students regularly gathered to pray. It seemed that these young men had been severely angered and agitated by the hostage situation which had crippled normal campus activities.  They didn't seem to be in the prayer mood that day and appeared to be in a coded discussion.  The prayer zone was visible from my room and many "Katangites" (independence hall members) sensed that entropy was building.  

The muslim students were led by a certain light skinned brother who didn't appear to be very religious.  He charged his brethren and a few of them had donned the Arabic keffiyeh including himself. Then the action started.

They marched out in ranks towards the gate to confront the shooters who had camped on the road which traversed in front of "Zik" hall and led straight down and directly into "Katanga Republic". Their chants of "Allahu Akbar" was building up to a crescendo and this must have really caused the hair on the bodies of the hitherto untouchable gun men to stand erect. We the spectators looked on from our vantage positions,  many poured out onto the corridors like it was one of those evenings that "NEPA" took light with pots of beans undone upon hot plates.

The gun men were seemingly unmoved and shot into the air in a bid to frighten the approaching young men but the chants only grew louder.  I am certain those lads would have kept in rank even if bullets were fired straight at them.  They got closer and the stars got very edgy and initiated their evacuation protocol.  As they made their way to escape,  the marching students increased their pace and progressed to running straight at the escaping gun men. I understand that some of them were caught even though they ran far away and beaten to a pulp.  The muslim students were relentless and brave that day and we never heard or saw the shooting stars not the ones from Oluyole again. The school was not shut down even when there was severe crisis and the vice chancellor put trouble makers in an effective sleeper hold ushering a period of significant peace,  progress and development for the university of Ibadan.

I still wonder if a well trained local security team supported by police could have saved the situation that day in Ibadan. The police system we run has it's quarter back dictating from Abuja with too much protocol to navigate.  It's on record that the president Goodluck "Tatansibe" Jonathan has been "over-fraternitizing" in the Southwest lately.  He was somewhere in Ogun state today in perhaps unofficial capacity to meet with a traditional ruler possibly to review strategies (or to summon reinforcements we don't know).

AIG Mbu superintends over Lagos and Ogun states and there is a huge chance that the security detail for the president's visit would have been expanded perhaps at the expense of Lagos. Could there have been a void which these sophisticated robbers of this afternoon sought to exploit?  It's Nigeria and really such things aren't beyond us. 

We cannot continue to police our states like this. Every state must be able to run their own points with respect to preventing crime, managing standoffs and apprehending criminals. The stakeholders should be allowed to partake in influencing how their policing should be done and not be at the mercy of what any "oga at the top" decrees. I watched a video a few hours ago of a young man who was limp and crudely carried into a salon car that probably belong belongs to a commercial bank.  The man was said to have been beaten to an unconscious state by mobile policemen outside a zenith bank branch in Lekki and left in the middle of the road to drift away.  I do not really care what his offence or lack of it was; but is a human being deserving of such inhumane treatment? Have those human beings with one head each who have stolen the resources of this nation and continue to still same been asked in strong terms to stop not to talk of getting slapped?  The man was only hurled into the back seat of the car by a clumsy mobile policeman possibly one of those who battered him for subsequent haulage to a hospital because eyewitnesses insisted. 

Ours is a system that rewards impunity; all anyone needs to get a ministerial appointment is to aid in manipulating elections.  An ex - militant who once destroyed oil installations, kidnapped and killed only needs to float a security company that will bid for and win a lucrative contact to guard the same pipelines and other installations he probably still vandalises.

Nigerians must realise that we are in dangerous territory;  the house is smoking and we have slept off within. When young people say Buhari was a coup plotter and does not deserve to be a democrat;  it is a cause for concern.  Further probe of such individuals will reveal a shallow knowledge of Nigeria's true history.  Many do not even know that the present senate president David Mark was a soldier  not to talk of knowing that he alongside Aliyu Gusau the current defence minister and Sambo Dasuki the current national security adviser were active participants in the coup which ousted former president Shehu Shagari. This is the same offence they vilify Buhari for. 

The main justice the dead from today's event need and should get is an end to foolish and selfish leadership in the land.  Now a Morocco call is a phantom phone call that has brought Nigeria regrettable international embarrassment.  The police should still do their job and apprehend these killers. 

May the soul of the departed rest in peace.