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On 1st October in
the midst of celebrations for Nigeria’s 50th anniversary of
independence from Britain, three bomb blasts rang out in central Abuja
a mere one block from Eagle Square where President Jonathan was
scheduled to address the nation. At least 12 people are confirmed dead
and more than 30 injured in the central area of the national capital.
Nigeria’s security services have arrested several people in connection
with the bombing.

MEND has issued
public statements claiming responsibility. If indeed MEND did
perpetrate the crime then this is a drastic shift from MEND’s claims to
be championing the cause of the poor, disadvantaged and downtrodden
people of the Niger Delta. The demands it has consistently proclaimed
for resource control, better policing, and community development in the
Niger Delta do not appear to be linked to the Abuja bombings.

Since the general
amnesty was proclaimed one year ago which has seen 20,000 former
militia surrender and enter retraining programmes, MEND has allowed the
amnesty programme to proceed without engaging in further violence
despite not subscribing to the amnesty. The bombings have an obvious
inconsistency with MEND’s ceasefire and political agenda which it has
consistently pronounced.

If indeed MEND is
responsible then there are good reasons to suspect that these crimes
indicate a developing rift in MEND. MEND has indicated that the
bombings were carried out in retaliation for the arrest of Henry Okah
in South Africa. However, the timing of these claims seems odd. MEND
gave notice of these bombings days before Okah was arrested. The
bombings in defence of Okah seem to be a belated justification. What
then was MEND’s motive in setting of the bombs that killed so many
innocent people?

MEND also claims
that the South African security forces acted at the request of the
Nigerian authorities. The Nigerian Federal Government categorically
denies that it made any request to have Okah’s residence searched or
Okah arrested. Okah appeared before the courts in South Africa on
Monday 4th October and in the material presented to the courts and made
available from the South African Government there is no indication of
any link to the Nigerian Government.

These bombing
cannot be construed as a Niger Delta related incident. They are a
direct threat on the nation and require President Jonathan to act
clearly and decisively to protect Nigeria’s citizens.

Former MEND
commanders from the Niger Delta who availed themselves of the amnesty
have vehemently denounced the bombings. This is a responsible and
credible action but is unlikely to deter opportunists and copy-cat
incidents. Threats to explode devices at Government House at Akwa in
Anambra State and at NNPC headquarters in Abuja are likely to be
followed by similar such security alerts.

There were security
failures in locating the bombs. Despite at least 30 hours warning of
the blasts the State Security Services failed to locate the devices. In
a woeful defence of their failure the SSS spokesperson blamed the rain
for the security service’s inability to locate and remove the devices.
Clearly President Jonathan needs to address this catastrophic failure
in the security services. The appointment on Monday 4th October of
former general Owoye Azazi as National Security Adviser is a decisive
step in the right direction. Further reform of the security sector
should follow.

It is unlikely that
these bombings were the work of MEND but if so then MEND has betrayed
its cause, and any sympathy the public and particularly the people of
the Niger Delta may have had with it have been blown away with the
blasts.

The people of Abuja
will have to live with much tighter security that will inevitably cause
inconvenience through traffic jams as car boots are searched, delays in
security searches at offices and hotels, and far more rigorous and
intrusive airport clearances. This is the price of vigilance and it is
a great shame that Nigerians have lost some of their freedoms through
these acts of sabotage and death.