•A number of tips we can take from government’s response
In what now appears as some Oedipal blindness, the world had woken up to a mournful start of the Christian Holy Week, with the fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in France. Sadly, no one expected the tragedy that awaited the world at the end of the Holy Week – the Easter Sunday. The global gratitude that no life was lost at the Notre Dame fire had seemingly turned into mourning with the tragic loss of more than 200 lives in a series of bombings in the tiny South Asian island country of Sri Lanka.
In what is now established as terrorist attacks on three Catholic churches and three hotels and a private residence, preliminary investigations show that about nine suicide bombers have been identified but more arrests and interrogations are still ongoing. However, what is sure now is that most of the attackers were middle and upper-middle class and well educated. One of them, Abdul LateefJameel Mohammed, studied in the United Kingdom and Australia.
Two sons of one of Sri Lanka’s richest men and Spice mogul, Mohammed Yusuf Ibrahim – Ilham and Imsath – were among the bombers. The man is being held presently on suspicion of aiding and abetting his sons. The involvement of these well-educated and privileged individuals somewhat throws another challenge to the world when it comes to modern day terrorist acts.
Curiously though, there are indications that prior intelligence reports hinted at the possibility of these horrendous attacks but the security agencies in Sri Lanka seem to have failed to take the necessary precautionary measures. Now, the world is counting casualties and the global impact. President Maithripala Sirisena has ordered the two top security officers to resign. The country’s police chief and a top civil servant at the defence ministry had stepped down.
There are indications that the terrorists were radical splinter groups that broke off from an Islamist militant outfit called National Thowheed Jamaath whose members had often been arrested for minor crimes.
However, while we acknowledge that the tragedy cannot be undone, we can take some lessons from Sri Lanka following the attack. The president immediately addressed the nation and promised that those guilty of negligence would be punished, given that preemptive actions might have, if not totally prevented the attacks, at least minimised the casualties. By Tuesday, last week, eight of the nine men behind the attacks had been identified, including their family histories and individual backgrounds. By Wednesday morning, the police chief and top civil servants at the defence ministry had been forced to resign.
By the evening of Wednesday, the security agencies had scrolled down to the CCTV footages of the moments the bombers entered their target buildings and have been fairly able to unearth venues of the planning of the attacks. They are equally being assisted by the Scotland Yard from UK, FBI from US, New Zealand Police, Dutch Police, Australian Federal Police and Interpol. We see effects of global coalition for security clearly evident in this case.
Nigeria as a country has been designated the third most terrorised country in the world given the activities of Boko Haram, herdsmen, bandits, etc. However, there seems to be some lethargy in addressing terrorism in Nigeria. Thousands have been killed, some abducted; but there are neither records of those killed or wounded nor that of the terrorists. Nigerian borders are some of the most porous in the world as most influx of foreigners, especially from the Northern region, is unchecked.
The country lacks credible data of citizens and visitors, so it is difficult to track movements. There are no functional CCTV cameras in public to capture incidents and movements. Despite the failure of the security agencies and deaths of citizens, there are neither sacks nor resignations. The fact that highly educated individuals are now becoming bombers should worry us all, given the illiteracy and poverty levels in the country.
The Sri Lankan government had halted church services and advised Muslims against Friday prayers as precautionary measures because of the terror alert. Nigeria must begin to regulate in very strict and clear terms the practice of all religions in ways to preempt radicalism and fanaticism, given the global implications. It is time to police our borders strictly and increase the value on intelligence gathering and implementation. The terror alert worldwide is very scary and we must take action now.
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