Bomb scare gives rise to ‘monstrous’ checkpoints

One of the major issues that define the year 2011 in Nigeria is the spate of bomb blasts that has torn through its very fabric. At the last count, about 40 explosions have rocked major city centres, especially across the North, with dire consequences. Apart from the agony inflicted on residents across the country, measures […]

One of the major issues that define the year 2011 in Nigeria is the spate of bomb blasts that has torn through its very fabric. At the last count, about 40 explosions have rocked major city centres, especially across the North, with dire consequences. Apart from the agony inflicted on residents across the country, measures by security agencies to halt the trend unfortunately come with attendant miseries. Like the many military checkpoints that have sprung up in areas considered likely flashpoints of security breaches.

In Maiduguri, Damaturu, Kaduna, Bauchi, Adamawa, Jos, Suleja, Kano and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), checkpoints manned by fierce-looking soldiers and ready-to-shoot policemen have become permanent features, causing hardship to commuters who get stuck in traffic gridlocks that last hours on end.

Not just an Abuja fad

Checkpoints emerged at entry points to the nation’s capital city late June, following the attack on the Police Headquarters by a lone suicide bomber, which resulted in the death of scores. Armed soldiers, led by a lieutenant, barricaded the road leading from Nyanya to Abuja city centre and subjected vehicles to searches. Residents who woke up as early as 4:30 am that fateful day to beat the normal ‘go-slow’ were shocked to experience a virtual standstill of vehicles that lasted over eight hours, extending beyond Masaka in Nasarawa State. Some who couldn’t withstand the stress had to turn back, while the road was jam-packed with faulty vehicles due to overheating.

Some people trekking the distance, described the scenario as “a nightmare.” It certainly had the trappings of one. Commercial cyclists made brisk businesses as they charged desperate commuters between N300 and N400 to ferry them against traffic, from Nyanya to Mogadishu Barracks at Asokoro, Abuja. Motorists, who followed one way from Nyanya to the city centre, were turned back by soldiers at the Mogadishu Cantonment. Commercial drivers also charged between N200 and N250 to convey commuters from Nyanya to Wuse or Area 1, Abuja. Some of the residents complained of the attitudes of the soldiers, who they accused of using horse whips to molest motorists.

The situation is the same on the Zuba/Dei-Dei and Kubwa axis and Lugbe/Airport Road entry points as motorists spend several hours in traffic occasioned by the checkpoints. Intra-state travelers along two major highways that run through the FCT were not also spared the pain as similar checkpoints also manned by the military also emerged at strategic locations.

Checkpoint’s labour lost

Irked by the suffering commuters go through at the various checkpoints, various bodies had risen in condemnation of the development and urged security agencies to evolve more conventional ways of reducing insecurity at the nation’s capital. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) described the emergence of checkpoints at various entry points as unnecessary. “It is unacceptable for the Nigerian Army to create such traffic gridlock, making hapless commuters to be stuck in traffic for hours on Monday 4th July 2011. The situation was so bad that many workers and other commuters had to trek for kilometres, making the axis look like a forced exodus of Nigerians walking to safety,” the body protested in a statement.

The congestion at various checkpoints that doted the entry points to the FCT eased as the city and its suburb emptied for Christmas, excerpt in Madalla, Niger State, where two blasts at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church killed several people and injured many more. The incident resulted in the blockading of the town, which is a few kilometers to the FCT and neighbouring Suleja, also in Niger State. To the residents of Suleja, which has experienced a spate of bomb blasts in the recent past, traffic jams and checkpoints have become a way of life.

The situation is worse on the Kaduna/Zuba highway where commuters form up to five lanes in attempts to outsmart one another, resulting in gridlock which lasts for hours. Motorists who expressed anguish following the development called on the government to immediately review the security arrangement and devise a more ingenious strategy of dealing with the insecurity in the country. “There is the need to look at the road blocks and know the appropriate place where check points should be mounted. A situation where people will not be able to come to work or get to work late must be avoided,” one of them lamented.

Accident or design?

Unlike the FCT, the points mounted by the military in different parts of Kaduna State are resulting in the loss of lives at various points in the town, as many accidents now occur at checkpoints. The recent example occurred on Tuesday, December 27, where a long lorry crashed while attempting to avoid smashing other vehicles that were waiting to be checked at the military check point before the defunct toll gate along the Zaria-Kaduna express road.

The major checkpoints in Kaduna State are mounted along the highways that lead to the state. Investigation by Weekly Trust indicates that the checkpoints that experience frequent occurrence of accidents are those in Mararaban Jos, Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Zaria, the ones at Birnin Yero and the defunct toll gate along the Zaria-Kaduna express road. Others are the ones along the Kaduna-Abuja road and Dakace, along the Zaria-Jos road. They are many.

Motorist interviewed by Weekly Trust describe the checkpoints as “monstrous” and without relevance to the country’s security situation. Garba Dan’asabe, a motorist, said: “They only waste motorists’ because they don’t check anything anyway. They only cause terrible hold-ups where many vehicles overheat. There is no way you can address security problems by blocking highways. Despite those military checkpoints, bombers are still bombing us. I think the military and the government should change strategy and come up with something more useful.”

When contacted, Lt. Colonel Abubakar Edun, spokesperson of the 1 Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna, said the checkpoints have nothing to do with those accidents as they are visible at a distance of more than 300metres. “The accidents are caused by the inpatience of some drivers. Any car that overheats while in terrific is not roadworthy,” Edun said.

But the situation is not different in Borno and Yobe following several bombs and gun attacks that rocked the two states. Few days before and after Christmas celebration, security checkpoints have been intensified in both states. In Maiduguri the Borno State capital, new stop-and-search points have resurfaced on major roads within the metropolis. Some residents who spoke to Weekly Trust see it as a positive step toward the restoration of security while others expressed reservations over the development.

Mainasara Adamu, a motorist, plying the Custom to Baga Roads lamented that before the festive period, he used to make at least 15 trips conveying passengers to and fro per day. “But now I make less than ten, because of the two stop-and-search points along the route, exhausting my time and fuel.” But for Gregory Yakubu, a Keke NAPEP rider, he attributed the relative calm in the past few days in the city to the increase in the vigilance of the security forces. “I think we should appreciate the efforts of the soldiers and the police,” he asserted.

Then a trader at the Baga Market noted that the checkpoints are subjecting innocent people to trauma because it places a lot of restraints on the residents who are engaged in commercial activities. “The moment it is 3pm, everybody wants to rush home because they do not want to be stuck in at the checkpoints. The introduction of these security checks is affecting the economic development of the state the little time we have for trading has reduced our sales greatly,” he stated. Another resident, Mohammed Bello, who said he just returned from Bauchi where he spent the Christmas break, said he spends more than eight hours on the road from Maiduguri to Bauchi.

The checkpoints in Maiduguri are child’s play compared to that of Damaturu, the Yobe State capital since the emergence of the Boko Haram sect there. It was a bleak Christmas for residents of the state capital as sect members took on security agents during the period in what has been widely described as “outright war”. Countless military checkpoints have emerged within Damaturu metropolis since.

Weekly Trust gathered that some commercial vehicles and motorists going to Abuja and other northern states from Maiduguri have abandoned the Maiduguri-Damaturu roads, passing through Gombe due to checkpoints on the route. Modu Bukar, a commercial bus driver, told Weekly Trust that he prefers that route, not minding the long distance. “A lot of time is wasted on the roads,” he said.

Also In Jos, the Plateau State capital, check points are seen by many as obstacles, where many accuse security agents on using them to extort money from motorists. Chris Ogbonna, Director, Training, Apurimac Onlus Nigeria, explained that the various checkpoints around the city only dampened the Christmas mood and caused unnecessary hold-ups. “The security operatives were not doing any serious checking, in fact, they just ask you to open your boot and that is all.”

A Kaduna-based taxi driver called Abudu Hamman believes the hardship experienced in northern cities due to the emergence of checkpoints may well continue in the incoming year, especially with the introduction of a Quick Response Group by the Federal Government to due to growing security concerns. Director, Army Public Relations, Major-General Raphael Isa said the group was formed by the army headquarters following the directives of the Chief of Army Staff. The group consists mainly of soldiers with modern crime-detection skills and was formed to compliment the efforts of the various military task forces in addressing insecurity in the county, he said. Already military personnel drawn from various formations across the country have been trained and awaiting deployment for the purpose. “That’s when the truly monstrous checkpoints will begin,” sighed Abudu. “We’re finished.”