THE LAGOS EXPLOSIONS; Moral Lessons And Political Questions As the smoke clears, and residents of the ever bubbling city of Lagos, Nigeria, begin to comb the carnage and wreckage of burnt houses, and collapsed structures, seeking to pick up pieces of shattered lives and vanished dreams, it is impossible for any observer not to commend the resilience of the people. Within the next few days, they will pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and start all over again. They will rekindle their hopes and attempt to salvage from the remnants of what is left of the city reputed as the most populous commercial city in the continent of Africa. These great people will go on. Ordinarily, such a tendency to quickly regroup and continue the journey of life and survival ought to be encouraged. However, the cause for concern here is that a look at our history shows that we also have the tendency to let the past dissipate with the essential lessons that would have been plucked from it. The consequence being that we fail to make amends and we thereby suffer the same misfortune(s) again and again in different guises. The privileged ones among us who find themselves on the corridors of power, simply throw moral conscience and compassion to the wind in exchange for greed, vanity, and the love of power, which we know can corrupt, and absolutely too. Before we characteristically dump the memory and lessons of the Lagos explosions in the trash-can of forgotten history, it would perhaps do us some good to reflect on this incident and learn the necessary lessons that could help us avoid a recurrence as well as improve as individuals and as a nation. It is not a time for flimsy tussles and passing of the buck, but a time for soul-searching, reckoning, and honest answering of intimate questions. Why was the armory at the Ikeja Military Cantonment not relocated by the Nigerian Military authorities despite the fact that the danger imposed by the proximity of the armory to civilian settlement had been brought to the attention of the authorities long before? 'THISDAY' reported on February 5, 2002, that for Political (Military) reasons, several moves by the former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Ishaya Bamayi (rtd), "was frustrated by the authorities at the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) and the Office of the National Security Adviser then headed by Alhaji Ismaila Gwarzo." I have not confirmed that information with the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) or the Office of the National Security Adviser, hence I am not in a position to say if that is true or not. However, assuming that the report is true, then one is forced to wonder about the moral conscience of our leaders to disregard the safety of the people in order to satisfy individual scores or political aspirations. More than 1000 lives could have been saved. 'THISDAY' reported on February 4 that President Olusegun Obasanjo while speaking in his monthly media chat on National Television Authority (the day before), "said "some people have forgotten that such had happened in Awka (present Anambra State), and Abakaliki (Ebonyi State)." Now, one would expect that some precautionary measure would have been taken to forestall a repeat incidence. The question then is was there no one in the military or leadership that had the moral fortitude or conscience to care about the safety of the soldiers and civilians in our cantonments? More than 1000 lives could have been saved. It is common knowledge that our President is recorded the world over to have made a casual statement that showed a lack of sensitivity to his countrymen who were then in agony and confusion. He told the crowd that came to him for answers and succor to "Shut-up" and that he did not have to come to the scene after all. Okay, agreed, no one is infallible, so our number one citizen may have made a few unguarded statements in the heat of the moment, but one would have expected that the events of September 11, 2001 and the way Mayor Rudolph Giuliani of New York and President George Bush handled the crisis would have been fresh in the memories of everyone including President Olusegun Obasanjo who must have followed the events in the United States in the aftermath of the attacks. He visited President George Bush after the September 11, 2001, attack on the United States. New Yorkers will tell you that Mayor Giuliani did have his good share of political opponents and enemies in New York before the attacks of September 11, 2001, but his humane handling of the colossal crisis made him a hero in the eyes of all including his political enemies. The President did make an attempt to explain his reaction and utterances at the cantonment. Though some Nigerians will accept his explanations, the unfortunate part for the President is that the statements he made on that fateful day, especially the phrase "shut-up" have become indelibly enshrined in the memories of many Nigerians. The President who has been embattled by numerous political and social upheavals, riots and violence across the country did not help himself or his situation by the way he conducted himself on such a sad and unforgettable day in Nigerian history. If I may ask, could that be a representation and externalization of how Nigerian leaders both past and present really feel about the concerns of the people they lead? Many Nigerians may have accepted the President's explanation either because Nigerians are generally very forgiving or their psyches have been deadened by numerous events of similar nature. However, many Nigerians cannot help but ponder on the implications and questions latent in the President's explanations. On February 4, 2002, 'VANGUARD' quoted the President as saying "I went to the barracks believing there were soldiers there. I did not expect the barracks to contain area boys and other characters." His other points include that he 'was a bit impatient, and he 'was not aware of the casualties,' and so on. If we believe the President, the following questions will naturally arise. How could it be that the President and Commander in Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, did not know those in the cantonment, or those he would meet there? How could it be that he was not briefed of the situation of things even before he got to the scene, when international news agencies like CNN and BBC already knew the details? With the recent unfortunate and questionable security collapse that led to the death of Chief Bola Ige, the nation's Attorney General and Minister of Justice, one would have expected a greater security detail for the President. What if the President had stepped into danger, or walked into an ambush? Why would the President be led blindly into an area where there was confusion and the safety condition was not clear? One may argue that the President's long standing military experience which dates back to the Nigerian civil war, was good enough for him to enter the barracks without being briefed since he would know what to expect where a munitions dump had just suffered explosions, but that was not the President's argument. His explanation was to the contrary. The various narrations given by some survivors on how and why many people died on the night of the explosions raise additional issues for consideration. Some said they thought Nigeria was being attacked from outside, others thought there was a military coup, and yet some thought there was a volcanic eruption just as was recently the case in Congo. Most of these people simply perished by following the stampede into the canal. More than 1000 lives could have been saved. I bet, your imagination of the scene is one of a gory atmosphere with confused people running helter-skelter and drowning in the hundreds as people fell on each other in the deadly canal. There was a blackout and there was no public communication system to help or direct the people on what safe measures to take. The questions here include why would an armory with such civilian proximity not have any safety regulations or emergency evacuation plans in place? Was there no fire department stationed around? What if there was really a war as some have thought, what defense measures were in place? More than 1000 lives could have been saved. More questions abound. How did the explosions start? If it was by a spreading fire, why was the fire not quelled in time? If it was accidental or by a voluntary and malicious act, could it have been avoided? In a country riddled with religious, political and tribal strife in this time of contemporary threats of terrorism, suspicions range from sabotage to terrorism. The facts are not enough for a conclusion at this time, but a look at Nigerian history, shows that some selfish individuals have before, damaged major state properties and facilities in order to cover up sinister acts or to achieve some political or tribal objectives. These kind of individuals - and there are many - would even want to exploit a tragic situation as this one to make some selfish gains to the further disadvantage of the victims. These culprits have shown no moral conscience or respect for life and property, and they have always gotten away with these crimes one way or the other. What is the guarantee that anyone would be held liable this time around? With so many tussles in the Nigerian polity, so many speculations are rife as to who or what may have been behind this catastrophe. Could it have been some detractors who wanted to intensify the woes that have befallen the incumbent administration and thereby forestall the reelection of the President? Could it have been an individual or group that harbors no respect for human lives and instead, expected the tragic consequences as a punishment or vendetta upon anyone including the helpless children that died on that fateful Sunday night? Or could it have been the horrendous consequence of recurrent negligence and carefree attitude of our past and present leaders to the safety and well being of fellow Nigerians. Why did the police strike and riot killings greet the Lagos explosions? Regardless of what the answer to any of these questions might be, the dignity of human life deserves a moral consideration that could not have excused such a waste of human lives and property. How many of us share this simple conclusion? Many well meaning Nigerians have proffered suggestions on how to learn from the Lagos explosions, make amends, and move forward, but will our leaders learn and patriotically revive their approach to national issues, or will selfish, tribal, and/or political considerations continue to dictate what they would do for the country? Be that as it may, not only the leaders and politicians need to make amends, but the people also. We Nigerians must ask ourselves the pertinent questions that have hereby arisen, and we must make an honest effort to answer them constructively. The lack of character, courage, and moral conscience always displayed by most of our leaders, whether civil or military, could well be a collective reflection of our orientation as a people. Every Nigerian leader or politician had to be a Nigerian; at least that has mostly been the case so far. In most cases, the Nigerian leader was raised and educated in the country or at least by Nigerian parents or relatives even if outside the country. What type of education, moral conscience, and orientation did the Nigerian society impart on its present day leaders, and what is the type being extended to our youths of today against the leadership of tomorrow? What type of exemplary life can be found on today's corridors of power, mansions of wealth, and other high places? If Nigerian must progressively proceed, these questions must be honestly answered, but we always have the chance to practically deal with some of these issues now before they become more questions when tomorrow comes. If the avoidable loss of over 1000 lives is not seen as a clarion call, what else would? This is the time to wake up. It is not prudent to wait for another colossal tragedy. I know that we as a people can do better, and we can start from little places like our homes and schools, our churches and mosques, and even more, but we have to start. Under the societal principle of respect for life and human dignity, we owe it to our society. |