I breathed a sigh of relief after the Boko Haram psychopath leader, Abubakar Shekarau, declared on Sunday that he and his members were behind the twin explosions, which rocked Creek Road on June 25, 2014.
Journalists who visited the scene of the explosions knew it was a bomb, but since every security agent and all agencies kept a sealed lip on the matter, it was pretty difficult to write based on speculations, since we’re no bomb experts.
Most importantly, nobody wished to be whisked off by unknown security personnel to undisclosed destination, to face interrogation on how you got to determine it was a bomb. Who are you working for? Why are you trying to generate panic in Lagos State and heat up the polity? Such questions would be fired at you like missiles.
All tactics to instil the fear of God into you and make your fingers tremble the next time you attempt to become adventurous while doing your job! I guess like me, many journalists were faced with the dilemma of the moral obligation of a journalist towards members of the public and the bigger issue of creating panic in the state.
I felt it was necessary for us, as journalists, to reveal the fact: that it was a bomb blast that occurred at Creek Road and with that galvanize citizens in Lagos State to become vigilant and security conscious. But there was the dilemma of paralysing the state with fear, which either or not could affect the socioeconomic system of the state.
Thank God the dilemma was wrest out of my hands. I was becoming heartily sick and tired of dancing round the issue. Writing without nailing the issue on the head. Baring the bones, while hiding the meat. But now that Boko Haram has finally infiltrated Lagos State, what is the next thing for us to do as Lagosians?
This is what I had been telling many of my security personnel friends since the explosions at Apapa. Alert Lagosians and let them get involved in security of the state!
Whether you’re from Ogun State, Abia State or Kogi State is no longer the issue here. Lagos is our home! Our homes are in Lagos!
Our children are here! And everyone of us work here. We need and must do everything within our power to safeguard Lagos. If we scurry into our hiding corners, it won’t keep the bogyman away. You can’t hide in your house forever, just to avoid a bomb blast. But you can shine your eyes!
Nobody can hide from death. Death is a faithless mistress; she has no lasting friend or enemy. Security agencies can’t do it alone! This is the time to join hands together and protect our homes. We must not allow Boko Haram, like the ghost of Christmas past, to chase us out of our markets, our homes, churches, mosques, shopping mall, motor parks and other places.
We must not allow them to turn us into hermits! We’re citizens of Nigeria and as such, have the fundamental rights to live and work in any part of the country. What must we do? Security agents should immediately commence an enlightenment campaign. They should embark on radio jingles and media adverts to educate citizens on what to look out for and what to do.
They should advertise their toll free emergency/distress call numbers. Security agencies should also drum it into the ears of their personnel to always pick calls from these toll free lines at the first ring. Those who bombed the shopping plaza at Abuja were sighted by a man. He was one of the traders at the plaza. He said he closed late that night and saw three men.
One was huge and behind the steering of a car, while two were walking furtively around the plaza, and kept going back to feed information to the huge guy in the car. He sensed they were bombers. According to him, his first thought was to alert the police, but sadly, he didn’t have any police number. He was frantic.
Then he remembered that he had a radio station phonein programme number on his phone. He called and asked for police number, after explaining about the suspicious movement of the men.
The radio people promised to send him the police number. They did; but it was two or three days after the bombing of the plaza. Imagine the number of lives he would have saved if he had just one single police emergency number. I know what you’re going to say.
That the police numbers don’t work. That the police don’t pick. Believe me; this is a different ball game. We know it. The police know it.
Why not get these numbers and call first before you draw conclusions? There’s no harm in trying, but a lot to be gained. Dr. Abubakar Tsav, a former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, said: “By this latest video, Boko Haram is telling us that we must be vigilant and security conscious.
They’re telling us that they can infiltrate anywhere. If they can infiltrate Lagos, it means they can infiltrate anywhere! It’s a very serious issue. But it’s sad that the government of Goodluck Jonathan is not taking the issue very serious or it would have done and finished with Boko Haram!
Look at the case of the Chibok girls. For the first 18 days after they were kidnapped, nothing was done until more girls were kidnapped.
“Everybody should now become security conscious. Let’s adopt operation know your neighbours. If strangers come into the community, we should alert security agencies. Let’s not leave it in the hands of the security agencies. They can’t do it alone. We should all be involved.” Emergency/Distress calls: toll free lines-767, 112.
Others: 08060357795, 08065154338, 08063299264, 08039344870. It would be fitting to save these numbers on your phones. You never can tell. Its times like these that I wish we had numbers like the 911. We’ll get there.
SMS only: 08189679439.
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