Two dastardly attacks

By Nick Dazang Two dastardly attacks took place on Tuesday last week. One was an ambush on the president’s advance convoy on its way to his hometown, Daura, ahead of the Eid-el-Kabir festival. The other was the assault on the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Kuje, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). While the ambush on […]

By Nick Dazang

Two dastardly attacks took place on Tuesday last week. One was an ambush on the president’s advance convoy on its way to his hometown, Daura, ahead of the Eid-el-Kabir festival. The other was the assault on the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Kuje, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

While the ambush on the presidential convoy took place at Dutsin-ma, in Katsina State, some 152 kilometres to Daura, the attack at the Correctional Centre, which reportedly took place within the span of 2 hours, 45 minutes, at night, occurred 47 kilometres to the Presidential Villa and 24 kilometres to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

Two persons were officially said to have been injured in the attack on the presidential convoy. In respect of the attack on the Custodial Centre in Kuje, not less than 100 attackers wielding Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs), General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMGs) and assorted rifles took part in commando fashion.

Even though an ambush combines the elements of stealth and surprise, the assault at the Kuje Custodial Centre was said to be anticipated. Apart from the fact that the Department of State Security Services was reported to have had an inkling and was said to have passed the information to the Custodial authorities, the assault took place regardless, and with a ferocity not witnessed in earlier attacks at its Centres in Oyo, Plateau, Imo and Edo States.

Certain matters arise urgently and in the boldest relief from these unfortunate events: How did the terrorists in their hundreds, some reportedly conveyed in trucks and others riding motorcycles, access the Custodial Centre undetected? Could the two attacks be a coincidence? With the calibre of the attacks, their timing, their daring and their professional staging, one must express misgivings. Rather, one is tempted to surmise that given the huge number (in their hundreds for the Kuje Custodial Centre), the two attacks were deliberately calibrated. One, the ambush was supposed to serve as a diversion and a distraction for the major one at Kuje. While the ambush could be intended to send a message, it speaks eloquently to a fact we all know: No one, not even the president is safe!

Second, not long ago, the terrorists were known to have gone on an assaulting binge of correctional centres in Oyo, Plateau, Imo and Edo States. In the aftermath of these assaults, they either freed or evacuated their incarcerated members. If this is so, why have we not, following these attacks, fortified all correctional centres, especially those holding Boko Haram suspects? The Kuje Custodial Centre was said to be harbouring dangerous criminals, including apprehended Boko Haram terrorists and high profile public officials standing trial. If this is correct, why was the centre not made a fortress commensurate with the “assets” it was safeguarding? Why have the Correctional Service and the Ministry of Interior, which supervises the centre, not learnt lessons from previous assaults and factored them?

If it is true that the Department of State Security Services had alerted the Custodial Centre of an imminent attack, what did it do to fend it off? Why did it not reinforce its security or sought for help from sister agencies?

Apart from the aforementioned, due attention must be focused on the presidency, which tended to downplay the significance of this ambush to the dismay of Nigerians. First of all, the presidential convoy is not an ordinary caravan of vehicles on its way to a frolic: it is the symbol of our sovereignty. An attack on the presidential convoy is thus an attack on the dignity and integrity, not only of the presidency but the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Second, for terrorists to take pot shots at it in an ambush, which was planned, shows crystal clear, that the terrorists had advanced knowledge of the convoy’s movement, namely: its take off time and its estimated time of arrival (ETA) at its Daura destination. It means the terrorists have infiltrated the presidency or its protocols. This should be a concern to all Nigerians, particularly those who glossed over the ambush and referred weakly to such as “sad and unwelcome”.

Third, this is the second time in our annals that a presidential convoy could be attacked with abandon. The first was on February 13, 1976, when General Murtala Mohammed was assassinated in an abortive coup. Against this background, could the gross import of this ambush be lost on the presidency and its army of pundits?

Perhaps, and mercifully, with the ambush of the presidential convoy, President Muhammadu Buhari should finally be roused from his slumber and be prompted to note that the terrorists, whom his administration has treated with unfathomable levity, have assumed the proportion of Frankenstein’s monsters threatening to devour the country. For if these terrorists could take over the Kuje Custodial Centre for nearly three hours and in commando style – attacking from four positions from the rear of the Centre and using the entrance to evacuate their members in trucks – it means that even the Presidential Villa is not an impregnable fortress. It means also that the president could just be a sitting duck for devil-may-care terrorists of the colouration that wreaked havoc on the Kuje Custodial Centre.

The president, who is not known for volubility and display of passion, had reeled out a number of questions on an assessment visit to the Kuje Custodial Centre: “How did the defences of the prison fail to prevent the attack? How many inmates were in the facility? How many of them were armed? Were there guards in the watchtower? What did they do? Does the CCTV work?” These, no doubt, are cogent questions begging for answers and the president has rightly insisted on a comprehensive report on this dreadful and embarrassing incident. It is, however, time to bring to book those who, by acts of omission or commission, allowed this assault to occur. It is high time the president refashioned the country’s security architecture. It is time, not only to speak to the perpetrators in the language they would understand. It is time to take the war to the terrorists. And it is time to vanquish them!

Dazang is a former Director at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).