Former military president, General Ibrahim Baba-ngida, has said those linking him with the October 1st bombings in Abuja are ‘idiotic’.
“It will be idiotic for anyone to link me to that bomb blast because I know what the unity of this country means and that was why we fought to keep it together. So why should I get involved in such a mess?” He asked yesterday.
Also, the Senate has expressed disappointment at the manner in which the bomb blasts have polarised the polity, describing the development as “totally uncalled for and unwarranted”.
The lawmakers asked the Federal Government to ensure that culprits in the bomb blasts were apprehended and prosecuted appropriately.
Babangida, who is also a presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said Nigerians had very fertile minds, explaining, “Naturally, when things like this happen, people will cast their imaginative and fertile minds into action and as we all know, Nigerians have very fertile minds but this is the price we pay for the love of our country and as politicians”.
The former military president, who spoke with newsmen in Minna, Niger State, blamed the bomb blasts on lapses on the part of securitymen, adding that the security forces were given prior notice before the disaster yet nothing was done to avert the situation.
“There was a lapse somewhere whether we like it or not and no one has disputed that government was given prior information of about four to five days about the impending disaster and yet nothing was done. In situations like this, which has to do with human lives, you do not need more than 24 hours to remedy an impending situation”.
“The British Intelligence Unit and others had warned on the impending disaster and the reaction should have been instant because such information is vital and much time is not needed to put things and well-trained outfits should have reacted swiftly,” he said.
Making reference to a television report by Yvonne Ndege when she visited MEND’s enclave and was taken round to see sophisticated weapons, the former president said the government should be concerned about explaining to Nigerians where these weapons came from.
He said: “From the language of those boys the young lady met at the militant’s enclave, you will know that they are well-educated and they showed her practically what they could do with the sophisticated weapons they have. I was a military officer and I can tell you authoritatively that those weapons are highly sophisticated.”
According to the former military president, there was an amnesty programme where those ammunition should have been handed over to the government and they were not doing that.
He said it was the duty of the government to know when the militants were regrouping and gathering such sophisticated weapons.
When asked why he did not attend the Independence Day celebration, he said he had nothing against the celebration but said it was against his principles to attend it as a result of the frivolous amount to be expended on the celebration.
Senate President David Mark, who spoke at the end of an extensive debate on a motion on the bomb blasts, particularly faulted the comments by some elder statesmen on the Independence Day explosions in which at least 10 people lost their lives and scores of others sustained serious injuries.
He said the issue at stake now should be the unity of the country and nothing should be said or done to jeopardise that unity.
Mark, however, commended the statesmanlike manner in which senators conducted themselves during the debate on the motion, saying he had initially thought that the matter would be too explosive to handle.
He said senators should have at the back of their minds Chapter 14 of the 1999 Constitution which dwells on security and governance, saying, “All those found guilty of complicity in the bomb blast must be adequately punished because as long as nobody is punished for such crimes, things like this will go on”.
Mark said the upper legislative chamber would fast track the passage of the anti-terrorism bill currently before it as a way of helping security agencies in their work of combating incidents of this nature.
At the end of the debate on the motion sponsored by Senator Anthony Manzo and 36 others, the Senate condemned the incident, describing it as “terrorism”.
The upper chamber commiserated with President Goodluck Jonathan, Nigerians and families of the injured and those who lost their loved ones in the attack.
It later observed one-minute silence in honour of “those who paid the supreme price for our unity”.
Introducing the motion earlier, Senate Leader Teslim Folarin (PDP, Oyo), noted “the unprovoked and dastardly terrorist attack that took place on Friday, October 1st, 2010 close to the Eagle Square Abuja”.
He said October 1st was the day most Nigerians and the friends of the nation had painstakingly prepared for and cherished as significant in its evolution as a nation state.
While regretting that “these terrorists” chose that memorable day to carry out the bomb attack, Folarin stated that “in the face of these attacks and threats, security agents must adequately prepare and brace up their machinery by focusing on intelligence gathering that will enable us contend with events of such magnitude in the future”.
He, however, expressed delight that President Jonathan had promised the nation that perpetrators of the bomb blast would be fished out and appropriately punished.
Supporting the motion, Senator Mohammed Manna (PDP, Adamawa) said it was unfortunate that the State Security Service (SSS), which admitted that it was forewarned of the attack was unable to stop it, blaming this on the ill-equipment and ill-funding of the outfit.
He, however, said perpetrators of the attack must be brought to book, stressing, “we need a clear cut investigation and not mere accusations based on sentiments”.
Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu (PDP, Enugu ) condoled with the families of the victims and commended the Senate President for taking time to visit the injured victims at the hospital.
Pointing out that the September 11, 2001 incident in the US reawakened Americans to take their internal security more seriously, Ekweremadu said: “We need to ensure that public places are covered by closed circuit cameras for proper surveillance.”
Meanwhile, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has said the Presidency's credibility is at stake following the allegation by MEND leader Henry Okah that a presidential aide called to pressure him to ask the group to withdraw its claim over the blasts.
Okah in an interview on Al-Jazeerah had claimed Jonathan’s aide asked him to get MEND to withdraw its claim of responsibility for the blasts so the government could blame it on Northerners.
The party asked the Presidency to do more to convince Nigerians over the allegation.
“We have read the Presidency's reaction to Okah's claim, but it has to go beyond that to convince Nigerians and the world that Okah was merely jiving,” ACN said.
The party stated this in a statement issued yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
“Because the allegation is so grave and has dire implication for the country's stability, we ask the Presidency to use diplomatic means to request and obtain from South Africa the call log of Okah in the past week, as a first step in what should be a thorough investigation of the claim,” ACN said.
Dismissing it as an “outright lie” by a “drowning man” may not be that effective, the party added.
“Also, we challenge Okah to identify the presidential aide who called him, if indeed he is not just trying to get back at the Presidency with such weighty allegation.
“If all these efforts fail, there may be need to appoint an independent commission of inquiry to investigate the claim, in view of its potentially-destabilising implication,” the party said.
ACN reiterated its earlier call on the president not to jump to conclusion on the condemnable blasts and to allow the investigators to do a thorough job.
According to the party, “We are reiterating this call because the Presidency seems to be insisting that the bombings were not perpetrated by MEND, which sent a message to say the bombs will go off (as they did) and later claimed responsibility, though expressing regret at the loss of lives.
“With due respect, the visit to the Presidency by some former militant leaders, including repentant MEND commanders on Tuesday during which they exonerated MEND seems to have been choreographed to support the President's earlier claim.
“But we beg to differ, and we have a number of questions to ask: If these men are no longer in MEND, how will they know what is happening in the organisation? If MEND has claimed responsibility, why is the President so eager to exonerate them? Does the President know what the nation does not? If so, at what point did the President know what he knows? If it is before the blasts, why did he not ensure that they were prevented? If it is after, why is he not telling the nation what he knows?
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