Abuja’s deadly car races return

A part of a popular road in Abuja has been turned into a racetrack of sorts, where young people from privileged backgrounds arrive with some of the most exotic cars on Sunday evenings and the road suddenly undergoes a complete metamorphosis. They race about gleefully and spin the cars, burning tyre rubber and raising smoke. […]

A part of a popular road in Abuja has been turned into a racetrack of sorts, where young people from privileged backgrounds arrive with some of the most exotic cars on Sunday evenings and the road suddenly undergoes a complete metamorphosis. They race about gleefully and spin the cars, burning tyre rubber and raising smoke. The son of a former President of Nigeria was said to have won the race recently. He had turned up in a sleek, N20Million Mercedes Benz.

 

Reckless youth

At last Sunday’s outing, there was a huge crowd and after the session of car-spinning, the group went up the road where they raced with their cars and selected a winner. A new Jeep spun, its open top accommodating two youths, standing and the driver is in his element, sneering. The eager crowd made up of men, women and children yells in excitement. A Lady gasped: “See, the man wan die. He wan kill himself.”  The elegant car, a Honda model popularly called ‘No Comment’ had just exited, having thrilled the crowd with its numerous spinning efforts and   show of smoke and the latter were now in ecstasy.  Many viewers look at the exotic cars with   desire in their hearts. The wide road now vanishes as the crowd, made up of both wealthy and not-so-wealthy, has left the pedestrian walkway and inches closer to watch. Soon, it is impossible to find the road, for the crowd takes up the entire place and cars coming from the direction of the National Mosque have to wait for the spectacle to end.

Those vehicles coming from the direction of the Central Bank also have to tarry a while for the road to clear. Some keep a running commentary on the show. As the car spins, smoke emerges    from its tyres and an acrid smell rises into the air. The car’s engine seems to protest, owing to pressure placed on the handbrake by the daring driver. Then the driver makes the car spin again.  The crowd claps again and yodels animatedly. Nearby, someone has turned on a music system at full blast. He has opened his car boot for effect. Some have climbed trees to get a view of the spectacle. Others stand on top of cars, buses or any elevated spot. A slim, noble-looking woman   has placed a toddler around her neck. The same woman stands barefoot on top of a parked car.   The toddler is shocked at what she is seeing from above and points at the spinning car in genuine fright. But there is clear admiration for the event on the face of the mother.

Then the first car goes by, and another comes after a little pause. The new driver spins his expensive car several times and the crowd roars its approval once more. Then the Jeep and the new driver began a contest within a defined circle and try to out-spin each other as they move about in a circle. Smoke rises into the air and for a while the cars seem to vanish on account of the smoke. The crowd goes wild with strange joy. The cars then come a bit too close to the crowd and a section has to bolt for dear life, to return. Then the car race continues and another car comes along and then another and another. The crowd mocks or cheers depending on how they rate each driver’s peculiar style. There are young men who control the crowd when the race starts, as well as someone who controls traffic and indicates to passing cars when it is safe to pass. At about 6.45 pm someone announces ‘It is over.’ Everybody obeys and leaves without a fuss.

Men behaving badly

All vehicular movement in the Central Area ceases when Abuja’s racetrack of sorts comes alive every Sunday, by 5.00 pm at a section of Tafawa Balewa Way, the very heart of the city, close to major hotels, offices, the National Mosque, National Ecumenical Centre, as well as the Central Bank. Weekly Trust found out that this race has been taking place every Sunday for the past three months, a return to the days when similar activity used to occur just beneath the CBN bridge in Abuja. Then, an accident involving the racing groups, the death of pedestrians at the scene and the intervention of the authorities, brought the activity to an end. When the seven youths involved were taken to court, they laughed when the charges were read out to them.

A popular story making the rounds in Abuja is that of the teenage son of a former governor who crashed into a pillar close to the National Mosque when he was speeding, as part of the race. Soon after, he instantly went to his family house and returned with a new car to continue the event.

Now the car-racing groups are back to the city. All they need is an open space anywhere and a spot to facilitate the turn of the car, and the race can begin. The absence of road bumps and an array of willing drivers, who may or may not have exotic cars, are additional requirements. But cheaper cars do participate, as well. Shockingly, even Keke NAPEP tricycles also try their hands at the dangerous sport, generating a lot of laughter.

Well into the show, the racers have chosen a section of the road very close to Ceddi Plaza, along Tafawa Balewa Way, suspending all laws relating to good sense, road safety and driving in the process. On Sunday 10th, July, when a spinning car ran into another, it was the intervention of a team of soldiers at 6.30 pm that brought the show to an end, liberating the road for other users. The crowd dispersed upon sighting the armed soldiers.

Weekly Trust attempted to interview the racers, but when a few of them objected to any of their members opening up on their activities to the press, that failed. On Sunday 17th July again, it took the appeal of a group of policemen in a Seven Cities Project vehicle that brought the race to a close at about 6.45 pm. On that day, one of the cars seemed to have knocked a young lady down. But the group only went further up the road and continued to ‘catch fun’ for a while making a number of passing drivers nod their heads in disapproval.

Then last Sunday, a car was spinning and a lady was making to turn away from the area in a sleek black car. Twice, the racer nearly hit her, stopping his car in the nick of time. At a point it even looked as if he was daring her but she drove away swiftly when she got a chance. There is evidence that at least one Federal Government car also participated in last Sunday’s race.

‘It’s a sign of poor parenting’

Abubakar Umar Kari lectures at the Department of Sociology, University of Abuja, Gwagwalada. He assessed the car-racing activity as being a “Failure of good and responsible parenting.” He added that there is also the failure of the basic institution of the family. “If it fails to perform its responsibility, the repercussions will be very serious for the society. What we have here in the context of the culture of car-racing is a profound systemic failure.”

The police indicated to Weekly Trust that they are on top of the situation and will soon arrest some of the youths when they are racing and prosecute them accordingly, according to Moshood Jimoh, FCT Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO). “We want to get them in the act and charge them to court,” he said, adding that cops normally patrol the area of the venue of the race. “But when the police leave, the racers come out,” Moshood said.

Meanwhile, Funmibi Olawoyin, the FCT Sector Commander of the FRSC, says that they are also monitoring the situation closely. According to him, “What they are doing is an illegal thing. In times past we arrested and impounded some of the vehicles for this same activity. There is no race track in Nigeria, and over-speeding on highways is illegal. These are clearly privileged kids, who have access to cars and many of them do not have licenses. Olawoyin added that so far the group involved in racing has not been coming out to race, even though Weekly Trust has witnessed many races along Tafawa Balewa Way on three different Sundays within the last three weeks.

So Weekly Trust went to the Directorate of Road Traffic Services FCT with the numbers of cars which participated in the races and spinning contests of the last two weeks. A source there was unable to help. The same contact said that land has actually been provided for the use of persons who are interested in car-racing within the FCT.

Vox Populi

A trader who sells recharge cards in the vicinity of Ceddi Plaza, where the races take place, expressed disgust at the activity and sees it as a sign of the emptiness of Nigeria’s wealthy class. Another businessman is simply appalled at the events and called for government to intervene swiftly before a major accident happens. A Zimbabwean restaurateur at a nearby plaza said that he has witnessed car-racing in South Africa, adding that racing in the latter country is markedly different from the type that is unfolding on the streets of Abuja, because for every car-racing incident in South Africa, there is a cultural context. By this he means that car racing is usually preceded by a successful football match, in which the victorious side celebrates by racing.

Francis Joshua, Chief Instructor of Flame Driving School, Gwarimpa, told Weekly Trust: “In other countries, there are designated places for racing. It is wrong for somebody to turn a public road into a race track. According to Joshua, racing emerges from the attitude of parents who do not supervise their wards. He says that if the tradition is allowed to continue, it will be difficult to curb in the future.

A gentleman who trades at the general area which lies opposite the scene of the Sunday race told Weekly Trust that the racers started coming about three months ago. “They do this every Sunday. At first they were using ordinary cars, then they started using Jeeps to race and then very expensive cars.” He added that when the youths operated beneath the CBN bridge, they used to go along with a vulcaniser to change a tyre if it is of no use owing to the race.

However, Tunde Waheed, a taxi driver in the city, told Weekly Trust that while the race is on, “We enjoy being here.” Waheed said: “This sport is entertainment and it begins every Sunday by 5.00 pm. If government can open a big arena for the sport, we will really like it. We have young men here who are talented and are eager to entertain people for free. This race can be a powerful revenue earner for the government, if it is properly developed.” Then Yunusa Yahuza, a merchant who trades in carpets at Wuse Market, confirmed that last Sunday a car ran into a female spectator, breaking her leg. “The racers are simply spoilt, rich kids and should be stopped.”