NIGERIA-POLITICS: Another Explosion Rocks Commercial Capital

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Remi Oyo and Toye Olori

LAGOS, Jan 7 1997 (IPS) - The early morning rush hour was shattered here Tuesday when an explosion rocked a luxurious bus carrying soldiers to work.

The explosion occurred at the foot of a major bridge near the busy Ojuelegba bus terminus in the commercial capital here, which is just a stone’s throw from a major military barrack. Passers-by, traders and people near the area were sent scampering for cover, eyewitnesses said.

So far, there has been confirmation of one death in Tuesday’s bomb blast, although eyewitnesses said the deaths may have been three. An estimated 15 people were injured.

“It is just barely one week into the new year and we are having all these problems…,” said an eyewitness at the scene. “We had hoped that 1997 would breed peace and prosperity.

“So Lagos is not safe for anybody and nobody knows the next target,” the eyewitness said.

According to a businessman here, the latest incident “now shows that no one is safe in Nigeria”.

“The government needs to spread its dragnet wide and shift its focus from scapegoating well-known pro-democracy groups, such as NADECO (National Democratic Coalition) and the Wole Soyinka- led (National Liberation Council of Nigeria) NALICON,” he added.

The news of the explosion has swept through the city like wildfire. Three weeks ago, two successive explosions rocked the city.

On Dec. 16, a bomb blast derailed a convoy of the military administrator of Lagos State, killing three of his security aides. Two days later on Dec. 18, another blast hit a bus carrying soldiers.

“We will try to unravel the people behind these explosions,” the Assistant Police Commissioner Mohammed Biu said at the scene of the incident.

Colonel Buba Marwa, the Lagos State administrator, has blamed the explosion on people who are not satisfied with his programmes, which include ‘Operation Sweep’ – the code name for an operation against armed robbery and rising crime.

Abubakar Tsav, State Police Commissioner, assured residents that the bomb disposal experts were out on the streets to ensure that no more explosions would happen. “There is no sense of insecurity in Lagos,” Tsav said.

Despite Tsav’s claims of adequate security however, the state administrator announced that the security personnel in the state had been empowered to shoot anyone who could not properly explain being in a prohibitive area.

“It is necessary to notch up security checks as a result of the apparent desperation by criminals and terrorists to cause chaos and insecurity,” Col. Marwa said in a broadcast on Tuesday.

Tuesday’s bomb attack comes less than 12 hours after the government-owned television authority reported the seizure of arms and ammunition worth millions of dollars, allegedly imported to Benin Republic by anti-government elements.

The report alleged that NADECO and NALICON were behind the arms cache intercepted by the Beninoise officials, but gave no further details.