•We pray that never again would we see the kind of Arise TV’s Somtochukwu’s death
The tragic death of 29-year-old Somtochukwu Maduagwu in the early hours of September 29 seemed to have dampened the joyous ambience that normally heralds the country’s independence anniversary on October 1. There has been national outrage across the country not because she wasn’t mortal but just due to the circumstances that led to her tragic death.
Reports from neighbours, and later by the police authorities, allege that Somtochukwu had jumped from her third floor apartment balcony in panic to flee from some marauding armed robbers that attacked their Katampe area building on the fateful day in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Her death has sparked national outrage because insecurity for many years has been of serious national concern. Many concerned Nigerians, including political leaders, past and present, have registered their condolences with her family, friends and her employer, The Arise Media Group.
While we appreciate such outpouring of grief and condolences, we believe that more attention must be paid to security, given that insecurity impacts everyone and governments at all levels are charged by the constitution to ensure the safety and welfare of citizens.
Many Nigerians daily lose their lives to the high insecurity in the country. There is food insecurity because many farming communities have been scared off by attacks from Boko Haram, bandits, murderous herders and other types of insurgents that are making life difficult for Nigerians.
The people seem helpless in the face of the impunity of the social misfits who attack people at every turn. All sectors of the economy are impacted by insecurity and the socio-economic life of the country takes a huge hit.
We are bothered that Nigerians continually live in fear as travelling, especially by road, has become dangerous due to attacks by armed bandits and kidnappers. In the case under reference, residents were in their houses which, by the way, were supposed to be safe.
If the accounts of how a Somtochukwu died is anything to go by, she was desperate and her alleged attempt to jump down from her apartment was clear evidence of her lack of trust in the system. If she had trusted the system, she might have called a reliable Emergency number, believing the security agencies would have rushed to her help. Her alleged attempt to jump down was not a deliberate suicidal attempt; it was desperation in self-help.
It is disappointing that the police allegedly arrived minutes after the robbers left. Even after the incident, it took them a while to give an update, given that much of the information in the crime scene was by residents whose accounts might not be very credible due to trauma and fear.
It surprises Nigerians that the FCT does not have readily available CCTV footages to refer to in such cases. If these had been in place, a lot of assumptions and hear-says would have been eliminated and may be the robbers apprehended.
Security in the nation’s capital should be a priority. What this singular issue has done is sending wrong signals to the world about our sense of security.
We are not expecting perfection as no nation has a crime-free environment, but there must be maximum attempt to make cities and villages secure. There must be urgent investment in digital security equipment, including drones, which many Nigerian start-ups are producing and even exporting. The police must improve their attitude to emergency calls and learn how to swing into action to protect crime scenes to assist investigations. Security is a specialised field and agencies must act as professionals who ought to serve and protect lives. Seeming post-mortem analysis is an ill-wind that blows no one any good.
We appeal to the police to carry out thorough investigations into this incident to give justice to the dead and closure to the family. The government on its part must scale up security across the country.
