The Nation Newspaper

Tag: scare

  • Coup scare: A red herring?

    SIR: One of the greatest dis-incentives to military coup in Nigeria is the liberalisation of the broadcast media. If you seize a radio station in Kaduna to announce a coup, another officer will seize a television or radio station in Kano, Lagos, Enugu, Ibadan or Rivers, to counter the coup. If you attempt a military putsch through an announcement on air in Owerri, someone else will make a counter announcement on radio or television in Abuja, Ebonyi, Jos, Ekiti or Bayelsa. It is no longer easy to plan a successful coup in Nigeria.

    And to detect coup attempts is now so easy. Unlike the 60s to 90s when telecommunication lines can be cut in order to restrict access to information, as you mention your illegal attempt in one barrack, before you take two steps, the information has reached another barracks. So, how do you conceal a coup attempt in the era of GSM, Watsapp, Twitter, indeed, all agents of instant communication? And coup is an offence against your country, a high treason.

    The experiences of men of the armed forces in the coup years of the 60s to 90s have nearly destroyed esprit de corps. And so, how do you expect Ibo, Yoruba or Ijaw soldiers to obey orders from a Hausa officer to overthrow an elected government? In the same vein, Hausa soldiers will not obey illegal orders from Yoruba, Ibo or Ijaw to sack a civil government, no matter how good or bad the elected government is?

    Drawing from the benefit of hindsight, Nigerians will prefer a devil in civilian dress to a saint in an army uniform. It was military rule that brought the country to its knees. Indeed, while the civilians in the 60s allegedly stole in secret, the military governments looted the country dry, and openly. This country has not recovered from the pains of military regime and may not fully recover from the depredations foisted on the nation via coup d’états in the next 50 years because it is easier to destroy than build. For instance, the regular assault on civilians by some soldiers is hangover from the military rule. In developed climes, soldiers accord civilians regard and utmost respect to all constituted civil authorities.

    Finally, a military coup in the present day Nigeria will only lead to civil war and disintegration of the country. With Boko Haram, MASSOB, IPOB, OPC, MEND, NDA, etc, no soldiers will dare attempt an illegal occupation of Aso Rock and Government Houses across Nigeria. There is so much inter and cross ethnic suspicion in the country such that any officer illegally occupying power will be viewed as that tribe trying to achieve by the barrels of gun what it could not achieve through the ballot box. No section will be able to lay claim to monopoly of violence. Civil war will be the consequence.

    Good or bad civilian government, the era of military regime is over in Nigeria.

    The military is not the watchdog of our democracy and should not constitute itself as one. That role has been handed to the press by the constitution. The military is not an alternative government, being not a political party.

    The teachers are carrying out their lawful duties in the classrooms, the doctors and nurses are fulfilling their constitutional mandates in the hospitals, the farmers in the farms, so should the members of the armed forces fulfil their lawful duties of defending the country against external aggression and internal insurrection as permitted by the constitution and the Armed Forces Act in their barracks. This is the right and proper way to build a nation that we all can be proud of.

    If one political party in power is not doing well, then let another political party replace it at the next general elections. That is the prescription in all civilized societies.  Our country can only develop when all hands are on deck to deepen the current civil rule.

     

    • Dr Ikem Joseph,

    Abuja.

  • Scare tactics in Rivers election re-run

    SIR: The spate of killing of APC members and ascribing same to cultists is the most disingenuous electoral wool-gathering ever concocted in the history of electoral democracy. The bloodshed being orchestrated is an attempt to scare away electorates with allegiance to APC’s electoral fortunes.

    Needless to say that the discountenance of the killing interlude by the Supreme Court in its determination of the governorship election petition has emboldened murderous gang in Rivers State.

    With insecurity at its peak, the re-run contest seems to favour the PDP whose members have the unbridled electoral space to express their franchise.

    Drafting huge numbers of security agents is not enough going by past experiences; the federal government may have to wield the big stick in declaring a state of emergency if the carnage persists.

     

    • Bukola Ajisola,

    Victoria Island, Lagos.

  • Enaholo: Alampasu doesn’t scare me

    Enaholo: Alampasu doesn’t scare me

    Flying Eagles first choice goalkeeper Joshua Enaholo has said he is not scared of the threat posed by former first choice, Dele Alampasu, ahead of Nigeria’s participation at the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

    Enaholo displaced Alampasu as first choice goalkeeper when the latter scoured Europe in search of a professional contract, and has since been the team’s first pick in between the sticks.

    But with the battle for places in the team expected to be fiercer ahead of the World Cup, Enaholo said he isn’t scared of fighting to retain his number one jersey.

    “Fighting for the number one position is not an issue for me,” he told sl10.ng. “I have been fighting for shirts all my life and fighting for the number one slot is not an issue for me.

    “So he (Alampasu) and whosoever will come to the camp will also fight for the position and if at the end the coaches don’t pick me, then fine.

    “But it’s not something to be scared about and I am not shaken,” he said confidently. Alampasu was initially the team’s first choice goalkeeper but lost his place when he travelled across Europe for trials, thereby missing the Africa Youth Championship (AYC) qualifiers, which saw Enaholo emerge as first choice.

    Alampsu was not in the 2013 CAF U-17 tournament, but emerged to become the country’s first choice at that year’s U-17 World Cup which they won in the United Arab Emirates, as he also emerged as the best goalkeeper. He has told friends that he is working hard to be Nigeria’s first choice at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand.

  • Cancer scare cost me my place in Glasgow -Becky James

    Cancer scare cost me my place in Glasgow -Becky James

    Cyclist Becky James listened, numb, as a nurse drew a line with ‘moderate’ at one end, ‘cancer’ at the other and explained her test results were ‘severe’ on that scale.

    Suddenly James did not feel like a two-time world champion worried about the knee injury that would eventually rule her out of the Commonwealth Games, but a 22-year-old woman from Abergavenny who was shocked and scared to be confronted with the word ‘cancer’.

    A smear test in May, a routine procedure every three years for women aged 25 to 49 which aims to detect cells that might develop into cervical cancer, had revealed abnormal results, but James had been confident there was little to worry about.

    It was only when she visited hospital a month later and was told her results were ‘severe’ that panic set in. She had two surgical procedures and,  four ‘stressful’ weeks later, she received her results — ‘CIN3, the highest grade of all of them’ — and had a minor operation to cut away the abnormal cells.

    ‘The doctor said to me if I had waited another year it could have been completely different,’ says James. ‘It makes you think about things in a very different way.

    ‘I realised how important your health is over everything else. I spoke to one of my friends before I was racing in Germany and I said, “My form’s not very good”.

    ‘She said: “Good health, or good form, Becky?” It’s true. It does make you think.

    ‘When the nurse drew that scale I came out of hospital in complete shock and I found the time waiting for my results really, really stressful.

    ‘You read about stuff on the internet — you know you shouldn’t look it up, but of course you do — and you lose sleep over it. It has been a really hard few months.’

    James has been understandably hesitant to talk about a deeply sensitive subject. She still worries she ‘made a big deal out of nothing’. You can hear the doubts in her lilting Welsh accent as she speaks; her shock and fear competing against an athlete’s need for rational explanation.

    James did not have cervical cancer but, if left alone, those abnormal cells could have developed into something much more serious. And that is why she has decided to speak out: to encourage other women to go for smear tests and catch the disease early.

    ‘I wasn’t sure whether to say anything about it,’ she says, ‘but I do want to encourage other women to go for smear tests. I think it’s really important.

    ‘It was a big part of me missing out on the Commonwealth Games, so that’s why I decided to speak about it. If I hadn’t had that time out, who knows.’

    The period James spent worrying about, and dealing with, her personal health also had a direct impact on the knee injury that means the 2010 Commonwealth silver and bronze medallist will miss the Games in Glasgow.

    Her knee ‘flared up three times’ during those two months and caused intense pain as she tried to catch up on missed training after getting her smear test results.

    The proud Welshwoman is desperately disappointed not to be competing this week, but felt she had to make such a difficult decision for the sake of her long-term career. The past few months have consequently been ‘incredibly tough’ as she has been banned from riding the bike she loves and become increasingly ‘grumpy’ with her family and boyfriend George North, the Wales and Lions winger.

    ‘It was a really hard decision,’ said James. ‘In my personal opinion the Commonwealth Games are a major thing. For me in Delhi in 2010 it was like an Olympics. I was 18 and it was my breakthrough season. Plus it’s only once every four years you get to wear the Wales kit.

    ‘I thought I could be fitter and faster and stronger this time and Glasgow was my biggest target for the season, but it just hasn’t worked out.

    ‘I have been thinking long term, and thinking about the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016; this drives me even more.

    ‘I missed out on the London Olympics and now it’s even worse with Glasgow. But it’s driving me even more.’

  • Boko Haram scare

    Of recent, there have been Boko Haram alerts in two states of the southern part of the country. The first came from Imo where the state wing of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP raised alarm over the presence of suspected Boko Haram youths. The party had alleged that the state government brought in members of the Boko Haram sect and was also training snipers at an illegal camp at Egbu road, Owerri in preparation for next year’s election.

    But the state commissioner of police, Mohammed Katsina said the rumor was unfounded as intelligence report showed no trace of terrorist activities. He further stated that, it was discovered that youths from various parts of the country were undergoing training at the centre which serves as Imo State College of Advanced Professional Studies ICAPS.

    A couple of days later, there was another report of bus loads of suspected Boko Haram members intercepted in Rivers State. Police authorities in that state said the suspects entered through the boundary with Imo and investigations were on to determine the motive of the suspects. At the last count, most of the suspects had been discharged save 19. Among the 19, one of them was said to have had in his possession, expended ammunition. Meanwhile the screening of the 19 continues.

    Apparently worried by the Imo report, ICAPS was compelled to send back the youths to their states for fear of being harmed. Director General of the College, Donald Day admitted that the centre cut short the training of the 84 youths from Katsina State and sent them back as the alarm had created fears on their safety.

    According to him, the centre trains youth on skills and leadership programme and had nothing to do with miscreants, criminal elements and members of the Boko Haram sect.

    If this explanation is a true reflection of the goings on at the centre, it remains a puzzle how the party came to the suspicion that the youths were Boko Haram suspects? It is either they are uncertain of the mandate of that institution or could not fathom how 84 youths from Katsina or neighbouring states could be quartered within that premises. Their age, dressing and ways of life are also issues that could have led to suspicion. And given the perilous times we are passing through, the presence of 84 youths from a single state within that premises was bound to raise concerns.

    It is good a thing that the college has sent back the suspects to their states so as save them from danger. Yet, they are not the only people from Katsina or other northern states that live in Imo. For all one might want to care, there is a huge population of northerners resident in Imo State going about their daily businesses. Many of them well established, have been living peacefully with the Imo people who go at length to make visitors feel at home. It is therefore not as if the presence of visitors is strange to the people of the state. There must be a reason why the instant case has generated so much heat that the state government had to terminate the training of the youths and send them back home.

    It is possible for the state government to accuse the PDP of raising false alarm. They could also insinuate political motive and the desire to discredit an opponent. These accusations could be raised.

    But there are minimum explanations the Imo State government owes the public before they can be taken along in this claim of ulterior motive on the part of the PDP. It is not enough to parcel the suspects back to their states on the spurious claim that their lives were endangered by the alarm. It is also not sufficient to claim as the state government did, that the suspects were merely youths who were on skills and leadership training.

    They ought to have allowed the police to screen them to determine what kind of leadership training and skills acquisition they came to the centre to benefit from.

    Issues to be determined include the curriculum of the college, qualifications of its teachers and prospective trainees and the kind of synergy that exists between the centre and other state governments.

    Of interest also is the issue of funding. Who picks the bills of the training and what type of competences do the trainees acquire thereafter? We also needed to figure out the mode of selecting the trainees, the benefit of the training and where trainees will be deployed after the completion of their courses.

    These are some of the nagging issues the police should unravel since they said investigations are still ongoing. Answers should also be provided as to the extent the centre has served indigenes of the state who are currently suffocated by debilitating high level of unemployment. By the time we provide answers to these posers, we might discover to our chagrin that the college has no clearly defined mandate. It could have been one of those ideas that emanate from the whimsical and inchoate thoughts of the current leadership in the state. There are more of such ill-defined ideas and programmes.

    That could in part, account for the difficulty of the PDP in understanding the mission of those youths. After all, Imo is no stranger to institutions of higher learning. There must therefore be something unclear about ICAPS and its mandate that has put it in the current pass. That is the folly in floating institutions and ideas whose mandate and value the people find difficult to comprehend.

    Beyond this however, is the danger which the Boko Haram menace constitutes for the peace and unity of this country. Before now, Nigerians especially people from the Boko Haram prone areas had moved around the country with relative ease. But not any more! With the guerrilla warfare style of the insurgents, the inability to differentiate them from ordinary citizens, people from the terrorism prone areas have unfortunately come under serious suspicion such that some innocent ones are now being exposed to untold embarrassment and hardship in their own country.

    It is a sad reminder to the fate of Nigerian travellers during the period some western countries designated us as a key drug courier country. The situation is yet to change despite the efforts of the country in the war against illicit drugs.

    Ironically, that is the point at which some of our citizens currently find themselves as the war against terrorism rages. So it is not necessarily a matter for grandstanding by legislators. Neither was matters helped by the curious posturing of the so-called northern elders when they spoke of their intention to prosecute the former Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen Ihejirika for the killings at Bama in Borno State.

    Since they came out with that ill-conceived position, about 200 helpless citizens have been mowed down with several others injured in both Adamawa and Borno states by the heartless and blood-thirsty hoodlums. So who will go to the International Criminal Court on behalf of those who died during those senseless and unprovoked killings? That is the uncanny dilemma brought to the court of public opinion by the compromising positions of some northern leaders in this very sensitive and dangerous war against terrorism. The sooner those in whose territories these killings go unabated rise up to the reality of the situation, the better for us all. Politics must be separated from this battle if we are to make any headway.

  • Robbery scare in Osun

    Rumours of a purported bank robbery yesterday created tension in Ikirun, Ifelodun Local Government Area of Osun State.

    The rumour gave the impression that robbers attacked a bank in a neigbouring community and were on their way to rob a new generation bank in Ikirun.

    People living close to the bank situated on the new Inisha road were scared and traders hurriedly closed their shops.

    It was gathered that the bank, which reopened last week after a robbery, closed for the day at about 11am.

    It was rumoured that the robbers wrote the management about their plan to rob the bank.

    The heavy presence of armed mobile policemen in commercial areas of the town heightened the suspicion of residents.

    Commercial activities in major parts of the town were halted for many hours and roads were deserted.

    The apprehension spread to Osogbo, the state capital, and some commercial institutions alerted security operatives to the development.

    The situation was brought under control when policemen started patrolling the city.

    Last December hoodlums robbed a Bank in Ikirun and attempted to another bank and ran away on sighting the joint police patrol team.

     

  • Ekiti bomb scare a hoax, says police chief

    Ekiti State Commissioner of Police Sotonye Wakama has debunked the story that a suspected bomber was on Wednesday arrested at the entrance to the Government House.

    Wakama said the man arrested, Ogungbemile Adedayo, did not have any explosive device on him.

    Speaking with reporters yesterday at his office in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, he said Adedayo was wearing an Exxon Mobil branded belt with a timer, which was mistaken for a bomb.

    Wakama said Adedayo is a final-year student of the Ekiti State University (EKSU) and an indigene of Ijesa Isu-Ekiti.

    He said preliminary investigation by experts at the Explosive Ordinance Department showed that the belt was not an explosive device.

    The commissioner said the suspect has refused to disclose his mission at the spot where he was arrested.

    He said charms were found on Adedayo while the police recovered Identity Cards and the number of the Capone of the Pirate Fraternity, from his room.

    Wakama said: “His clothing and receptacles, as well as the blue waist belt, had been thoroughly examined by the Explosive Ordinance Department experts and we reiterate that there is no evidence or reason to suggest the subject was conveying an explosive device or is a terrorist.”

    He said the suspect said his father, a retired military officer in Lagos and a practising herbalist, gave him the charms.

    Adedayo told reporters that the belt was “a protective jacket” he normally used with his computer to aid its performance.

    He said he was at the spot where he was arrested to test the efficacy of the belt.

    Adedayo denied membership of any cult group and said the charms were meant for his protection. He refused to state why he chose to test the belt on the Government House road.

  • Bomb scare at Ekiti Govt House

    Bomb scare at Ekiti Govt House

    There was confusion yesterday at the Ekiti State Government House when a man suspected to be carrying a bomb was arrested in front of the Government House.

    The man, in his 20s, was reportedly brought to a spot close to the main entrance of the Government House by a commercial motorcyclist, about 10am.

    An eyewitness, who simply identified himself as Johnson, said the suspected suicide bomber alighted from a motorcycle. He was said to have covered his face with a veil and made phone calls in a suspicious manner.

    An official at the Government House said: “When I saw the man making phone calls, I approached and queried him. Immediately the motorcyclist who brought him sped off, he became aggressive.

    “I then alerted the security officers manning the entrance to the Government House who also came to query him. They dispossessed him of his belongings.”

    He said dangerous objects including charms and knives were found on him.

    Ekiti State Police Command spokesman, Mr. Victor Olu Babayemi, confirmed the incident. He said the suspected suicide bomber has been arrested, adding that “no explosive material or bomb was found on him.”

    Said he: “Somebody was just trying to draw attention to himself. No bomb or explosive material was found on the man. He only behaved in a suspicious manner and that attracted the attention of people, which made them to raise the alarm. He exhibited a conduct likely to cause the breach of public peace.

    “The suspect is being detained at the police headquarters. Investigation is ongoing.”

    Governor Kayode Fayemi was not in the office at the time of the incident.

  • Al Ahly do not scare me — Oboabona

    Godfrey Oboabona, the Captain of Sunshine Stars FC of Akure, on Thursday said the team had perfected the strategy it needed for victory in the CAF Champions League match against Al Ahly. The game is the first leg of the semi-final encounter between the clubs scheduled for Saturday in Ijebu-Ode.

    Oboabona is among home-based players in the Super Eagles camp preparing for the last leg of the final round Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against the Lone Stars of Liberia on Oct. 13 in Calabar. He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the team was now battle-ready for Al Ahly after calling off their 10 days strike over unpaid contract fees.

    He said the players missed nothing during the strike, but that it was necessary to give the match the attention needed.

    “We trained together during the strike except that the coach was not with us. Sometimes, I go to him to collect programmes, which I passed on to the players,” he said.

    Oboabona said that their first leg group game against Esperence FC of Tunisia, which was played in Ijebu-Ode, was a painful experience which they would not allowed to repeat itself.

    “I see Sunshine Stars going to the final. We overrated Esperence the first time we played against them, that’s why we lost the game but in the second leg we did better. However, it was a big lesson for us. Seeing Al Ahly this time, we will pay back what Esperence did to us,” Oboabona boasted.

    “My colleagues are training in Ijebu-Ode and I am training with the Eagles. I can leave any moment to join them for Saturday’s encounter. In the game of football, it is not the name that matters but the character of the team. Kudos to Al-Ahly, they have everything but Sunshine Stars do not depend on the name, rather we depend on the commitment of the players on the field.

    “If you like field 10 Lionel Messi for Al Ahly, once they are not committed, the team won’t perform. So, I am not scared. All we have to do is to focus on the way we play and the good result will come,” Oboabona said.

    Sunshine Stars resumed training last weekend ahead of the crucial encounter after 10 days of strike over unpaid contract fees for the 2011/2012 Nigeria Premier League (NPL) season.