Tag: Nigerian Defence Academy

A POST-GRADUATE student of Explosives and Material Science at the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) in Kaduna, Mr Biedomo Iguniewei, has testified before Chief Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe’s coroner’s inquest into the Synagogue building collapse deaths of more than 100 religious tourists that the building probably came down because it was attacked by a high-energy infrasonic radiation weapon. Mr Iguniewei, 37, claimed he reached that conclusion based on both his six-year work with the Defence Industries Corporation (DIC) and his apparently unsolicited private but brief investigation into the collapsed building. Until Iguniewei testified about the probable use of this esoteric weapon, it was not clear how many Nigerians, even in the scientific community, had heard of infrasonic radiation or its use as a weapon.

Now, whether the coroner likes it or not, he will have to contend with this mystifying theory of low intensity sound, hitherto the preserve of science fiction.  Postulating confidently before the coroner, Mr Iguniewei said that after studying the damage done to the building, whose foundation pillars were still standing, he had eliminated all other possibilities and concluded that the collapsed Synagogue guest house was fired at by an infrasonic weapon, either from a flying object, presumably the aircraft Synagogue officials claimed hovered over or circled the building, or from stationary location on the ground of indeterminate distance. Infrasound or anything infrasonic, whether of weapon — which are still being researched into or are already in very limited use — or of device, refers to anything that generates low-frequency sound (lower than 20 Hertz) for a variety of purposes.

Mr Iguniewei reminds us, naturally, that infrasound cannot be seen or heard, and is different from acoustic or ultrasound. But he also obliquely suggests that weapons are always being produced and the producers are always looking for ways and where to test these weapons. But he is careful to hedge his assertions. Said he: “It is important for this court (the coroner) to be aware of this option (his explanation of the Synagogue building collapse), but why it could have been used here is another matter entirely.” In other words if the motives for the use of infrasound weapon cannot be substantiated, it is no longer the concern of Mr Iguniewei, nor does that fact vitiate his theory. Phew! He does not need to remind us that even before the last rubble fell on the collapsed pile, Synangogue officials had suggested that the collapse was probably the handiwork of terrorists who had threatened to hit the church, perhaps a vague reference to Boko Haram.

It is remarkable how a rather easy matter to deal with, such as investigating the reasons for the building collapse and the unnatural deaths of tourists, should elicit the kind of confusion and complexities that have enveloped it. Leader of the Synagogue church himself has pointedly refused to appear before the coroner, for it is almost certain he will be embarrassed once he is put on the witness stand. And for a tragedy that involves the death of about 115 people, most of them South Africans, it is curious how Nigeria, in the name of due process, is allowing legal and bureaucratic fog to confuse everyone and diminish the impact of the lives lost. Worse, now we are being entertained by highfalutin theories of exotic James Bond weapons, the kind that the United States would have liked to use, if it had them, on ISIS buildings in Raqqa, Mosul, Sanjar and elsewhere in Syria and Iraq.

But assuming such a weapon as described by the highly imaginative researcher, Mr Iguniewei, existed in Nigeria, why of all places would the authorities, in a government that courts religious groups madly, want to deploy it against the Synagogue Church of All Nations? Mr Iguniewei refuses to be drawn into that quicksand. He has thrown us a hard bone; he leaves us to determine whether our dentition can cope. Perhaps in coming to his conclusions, the smart Chief Magistrate Komolafe will doubtless put the evidence together and weigh them against all possible motives. He will also determine whether Nigeria possesses a craft that can deliver the esoteric infrasound weapon referred to by Mr Iguniewei. If his answer is yes, let him praise Mr Iguniewei for helping the coroner to come to an astounding decision. But if his answer is no, let him reserve very harsh words for the weapons researcher, who for one frightful moment, nearly made the militarily more powerful and developed industrialised West green with envy.