Although Nigerians are beginning
to heave some sigh of relief following the nation’s military’s success in
dislodging the much dreaded insurgent Boko Haram from their camps and hideouts,
much ugly memories of the past have remained fresh. Sincerely, life may never
remain the same even with the total annihilation of this terrorist group and
other forms of insecurity in the Northern part of Nigeria. My reason is that
although violence may cease, can the consequent sad memories be forgotten?
It is no news that one major
antics of the insurgent terror Boko Haram is the act of suicide bomb. This is
obviously the height of insecurity not only in Nigeria but in most other
countries of the world including Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan and even some
Asian countries. However, some security experts have described the acts of
suicide bombing as one of the deadliest mechanism of terror campaign in this 21st
century.
An independent security analyst
once said that of all acts of violence and insecurity involving terrorism,
suicide bombing is most capable of leaving endemic fear in the minds of its
victims. Wars may come and go, but fears or scars left by events of suicide
bombing are most difficult to erase and most capable of influencing both personal
and public lifestyles.
This is the situation which I
found myself in the wake of terror and consequent deadly events of suicide
bombings in the Northern part of Nigeria. I was resident in Abuja, the Federal
Capital Territory of Nigeria when news of strategic suicide bombings and other
forms of insecurity and threat to life started filling the airwaves. At first,
we felt less concerned and concentrated on our jobs and daily routine as those
ugly incidents were only reported in the far North-Eastern part of the country.
Little did we know that what started as mild dew would rise to become a
torrential rainfall. The first major incident of bombing which completely changed my perception of personal and public strategy was the Mararaba – Nyanya Motor Park bomb blast.
Nyanya is a sub-urban town that
shares common boundary with Mararaba, which is the closest town in the
neighboring state of Nassarawa, North-central Nigeria. These two neighboring
towns have a combined population of virtually one million people according to
an independent source. Sadly, the bomb blast incident took place under a bridge
which housed a very busy and popular motor park. The dead toll from was
heart-rending.
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| Nyanya Bridge: Site of Bomb Blast |
If you have been to Abuja, you
would notice that the only form of shelter from rain or sunshine for
pedestrians is the popular and strategic pedestrian bridges found in almost all
major express roads in the FCT. Whenever it rains or sun shines heavily, you
could only have shelter under these pedestrian bridges unless you are journeying
in a car. Consequently, these bridges became popular with huge attendant crowd
always taking shelter from the rains. They eventually became obvious targets
for suicide bombers because of the presence of the crowd. However, when cases
of suicide bomb blasts became incessant, the fear of staying in the midst of
the crowd in the name of shelter from rain became pronounced.
I had to adopt a new personal
security strategy. I had to start avoiding those pedestrian bridges which posed
a great security threat to thousands of lives. You do not need a security
expert to tell you that such sight could be an easy target with high precision
for suicide bombers who could disguise themselves to join the crowd.
I walked under the rain, sunshine
and started avoiding any form of crowd formation in public places. I was not
the only person whose security strategy had to change. Several other residents
of Abuja shared similar opinion with me and whenever it rained, one could see a
large number of people getting wet by walking under the rain in a bid to avoid
joining the crowd under those pedestrian bridges.
Till now, although the security situation in the
entire Northern part of Nigeria has become a lot better, I have not thought
about relaxing my security strategies. The memories of destruction of lives and
property caused by suicide bombings are still fresh. When it shall fade, only
time will tell.
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