Bomb attacks: Fear grips Abuja residents
Terrorists appear to have won the psychological war against the residents of Abuja and its neighbourhoods in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), with three bombings claiming over 114 lives in the past two months alone.
Scene of the June 25 bomb blast
Abuja, a glittery civil service town populated by technocrats, businessmen, politicians, diplomats and money bags – with expensive luxury hotels that cater to the tastes of the jet set – has been reduced to an enclave of fear.
Devoid of boisterous character
The majority of residents now avoid public places such as recreational parks, gardens, drinking spots, markets, shopping malls and other social centres.
The latest attack on June 25 was the climax to that fear – nightlife has disappeared, parents and children stay far away from parks, while market women ply their trade with trepidation.
Abuja is sapped of its boisterous character, resulting to loss of revenues for businesses.
The operators of gardens in the Wuse area are counting their losses as patronage has gone down considerably.
At the Children’s National Park and the zoo in Asokoro, a hitherto choice for residents who wish to unwind at weekends, there is little or no sign of activity.
The Ultra-Modern Plaza in Garki is affected by low patronage too. A security beef up within the premises has not allayed fears.
FCT Minister, Bala Mohammed, told TheNiche through his spokesman, Nosike Ogbuenyi, that garden operators are supposed to close at 7pm, ensure adequate security, engage enough personnel and install close circuit television (CCTV) cameras, among other requirements.
Human cost of recurring attacks
Abuja was first devastated this year on April 15 when terrorists detonated bombs at the high density Nyanya motor park that claimed over 75 lives.
At the same Nyanya, another bombing sent over 19 people to their untimely graves on May 1.
However, the history of the carnage in the city goes back four years.
• October 1, 2010. Eagle Square bombed, 12 killed.
• June 17, 2011. Suicide bombers attacked police headquarters. Killed eight, injured 44.
• August 26, 2011. Terrorists detonated a bomb at United Nations building. Killed 25, injured 68.
• 2012. THISDAY office hit with a bomb, one person died.
In the latest incident on June 25, 2014, over 20 people died and more than 52 were injured in a bomb blast at Emab Plaza on Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse 2 District in the popular Banex Plaza.
Among those killed was New Telegraph Managing Editor, Suleman Bisalla, aged 46. Most of the others who died were petty traders and hawkers selling oranges, groundnuts and bananas in front of the plaza.
Emab Plaza, like others in the axis, is popular for selling both old and new mobile telephone handsets and other electronic gadgets. It also has repairers.
Bisalla went there to fix a handset he bought a few days earlier, when he met his death.
A lady who operates a garden at Wuse Zone 6 said she hardly makes any reasonable sales these days.
Her words: “You can see things for yourself. The whole place is empty. People no longer patronise us as they used to. I am not the only garden operator who is experiencing this abysmal business turn over.
“Almost every other person in this business is affected negatively. People have been gripped with fear so they no longer go to crowded places for fear of bomb attacks.”
Parks as town union meeting venues
Aside the normal recreational purpose, the gardens in Abuja have become venues where town unions, mostly from the South East, hold monthly meetings.
The most popular include City Funplex Garden, opposite Sky memorial complex, Wuse Zone 6; Hilton Garden, behind old Corporate Affairs Commission, Wuse Zone 5; Royal Falls; Caches Garden; all in the same Wuse.
Though the gardens have not been attacked, their operators have been asked to secure them henceforth.
Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mbah, told TheNiche that the police will not stop private firms from operating legitimate businesses but advised that the owners of gardens should approach the police if they need security.
Isiekenesi Improvement Union (IIU) Chairman, Abuja chapter, Chuks Nwagbo, said his union will soon approach the leaders of other town unions which hold monthly meetings at the same venue to come up with comprehensive plan to beef up security at the place.
Police advise security measures
Mba said on Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) Good Morning programme: “In as much as they are ready to work with us, work with the security agencies, it is also important that they take certain measures themselves because these are private businesses and you cannot put up certain measures without their consent except where it is a legislature stipulating such measures.
“We strongly advise that where possible, they should try and create designated parking lots. Parking lots that are clearly away from main buildings. Imagine what would have happened if that blast had occurred under the roof of any of those buildings. It would have been devastating.
“Where it is not possible for you to create designated car parks because it is a built up area, we advise that you institute a very strong access regime.
“An access regime that is strong enough to even act as a detour because if you are approaching a target and you notice that there is a very strong and impregnable access control regime, you will just move away.”
Mba urged the owners of shopping malls to provide CCTV cameras because they “are making a whole lot of money and they don’t need to wait for the government. If there was CCTV camera within that [Emfab] Mall, it would have made for strong evidential value, strong investigative value for those of us who would be involved in investigations.”