20110103
Vanguard

Abuja — THE Federal Government, yesterday, made good its pledge to seek the assistance of foreign bomb experts to get to the root of New Year Eve bomb blast at the Mammy Market of the Mogadishu Cantonment, Abuja which claimed four lives and injured several others as United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, agents are already on their way to the country.

The US Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, confirmed to a news media, Fox News, that FBI agents have been dispatched to help the Nigerian government investigate the deadly bomb attack in Abuja on New Year's Eve.

President Goodluck Jonathan (2nd left) and his wife, Patience, with some victims of last Friday's bomb blasts at Mogadishu Barracks in Abuja during his visit to Asokoro General Hospital, Abuja, yesterday. Photo: State House

Napolitano spoke with Fox News in Qatar, where she arrived for meetings with local officials. The Nigerian bomb attack, with a separate bombing in Egypt, was carried out shortly after Napolitano set out on her trip. Napolitano said the attacks show how the reach of international terrorism "knows no bounds."

She said: "One thing I think it illustrates is that we live in a world where terrorism is part of the environment, unfortunately. And it's something that we need to be thinking about, we need to be planning for."

Napolitano added that her department would be monitoring the situation closely and confirmed that the FBI has been dispatched to assist in the Nigerian investigation - a situation she said "is not all that uncommon."

The FBI is often asked to help with such investigations due to its expertise in evidence collection.

FG also contact Israeli experts

Apart from FBI, there were indications in Abuja, that the Federal Government has also contacted the Israeli experts from MOSSAD, Israeli Special Intelligence outfit to help unravel those behind the deadly bomb explosions.

It was gathered that the office of the National Security Adviser was putting in place, special flight arrangements to fly the experts into the country though private chartered aircraft.

President Goodluck Jonathan was said to have given a directive that investigations into the blasts be carried out in the shortest possible time to hunt down the perpetrators.

Vanguard gathered that the Federal Government had given express approval for these experts to come into the country with sophisticated gadgets that would enable them perform the job in the shortest possible time.

Meanwhile President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, visited the Mammy Market, Mogadishu Cantonment, site of the bomb blast in Abuja.

He was received by the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal, Oluseye Petirin; Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Ringim; and the Commander, Army Garrison Headquarters, Major General Mike Nasanu who showed him round the two sites where the explosives went off in the market.

The President also visited the Asokoro General Hospital to commiserate with victims of the blasts though he did not grant interview to the press.

I fear for Nigeria, says CAN president

I fear for Nigeria, was the initial reaction of the President of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, on the New Year blasts in Abuja which killed a pregnant woman and three others.

Addressing newsmen in Lagos while on his way to the US, Pastor Oritsejafor said Nigeria was gradually gravitating towards becoming a terrorist country and if nothing was done very urgently to arrest the growing trend, "I am unable to say what may befall the country."

The CAN president also urged the Federal Government to urgently demonstrate to the nation that they have a government, by taking decisive steps to arrest identified masterminds of the current terrorism and bring them to justice.

Oritsejafor said: "President Jonathan should go beyond the avowed promise of dealing with the culprits pronto, so that Nigerians will be rest assured that it is not business as usual," adding that Nigerians will revolt if the government made the mistake of instituting another probe panel to investigate the remote causes of the blasts.

While calling on the leadership of the National Assembly to cut short their Christmas holidays and rush back to enact enabling laws to deal with the situation, the CAN president said that a desperate situation demanded a desperate solution.

Linking me with blasts, sheer blackmail--IBB

Former head of state, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida said, yesterday, that associating him with the Abuja blasts amounted to sheer blackmail, just as he expressed surprise at the deliberate ploy to link him with the spate of wanton bombings that had created palpable fear in the land.

He said rather than dropping names because of politics, the government should create a synergy between it and the populace to make the intelligence gathering aspect of security more encompassing, adding: "It exposes the weakness in the system if private persons and former leaders who are enjoying their retirement are being linked to acts of terrorism or bombings.

"We all should agree that there is failure in governance rather than passing the buck, or finding very idiotic and flimsy reasons to label some distinguished persons as being responsible for such failures. Having identified the problems, it will now dawn on us to collectively put our heads together to find appropriate solutions, bearing in mind that these criminals live amongst us.

Government has a greater responsibility to jump_start the process of rallying everybody together. We must re_direct our effort as well as doubling our energies. Policing is a collective responsibility hence it will serve more useful purpose if government decides to create a synergy between it and the populace to make the intelligence gathering aspect of security more encompassing."

Babangida said in a statement signed by his spokesperson, Prince Kassim Afegbua: "It calls for celebration despite all the manifest challenges that have confronted the nation in recent times. Nigerians must learn to avoid certain pitfalls that could generate political instability and disquiet across the country.

We must continue to promote the sense of communalism that binds us together as one nation of different ethnic configurations but united on the basis of our national goals and objectives."

Injured victims to go home today

Meanwhile, Vanguard gathered that some of the injured victims of the Abuja blasts currently receiving treatments at the Defence hospital at Mogadishu Cantonment and Asokoro General hospital would be released to go home by today, January 3, having recovered fully from the impact of the blast.

Criminals must not over run Nigeria

In a related development , the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, weekend, charged President Jonathan and the security agencies in the country to live up to their responsibilities of protecting the lives and properties of citizens and to ensure that criminals did not over run Nigeria.

The umbrella body for senior staff associations in the country, in a New Year message to Nigerians and workers, expressed deep concern over the violence and bloodletting across the country, lamenting that the country was now under siege.

TUC in the message by its President_General, Comrade Peter Esele, argued that violence and the killing of fellow countrymen was not the solution to any misunderstanding or grievance, noting that it leads to more violence.

Esele said: "We condemn the Christmas eve blasts in Jos, Plateau State; burning of churches and killing of worshipers in Maiduguri, Borno State and the politically motivated blast at a rally in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.

We also condemn the confusion and tension in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital following the killing of the chairman of the state National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, Alhaji Lateef Salako, popularly known as Eleweomo.

"We want to restate our position that violence and the killing of fellow countrymen is not the solution to any misunderstanding or grievance, rather it leads to more violence; as violence begets violence. Furthermore, TUC demands that officers and men of all security agencies, including the Nigerian Police should be retrained on intelligence gathering which is what modern day policing is anchored on. The open day trotting of AK_47 riffles by the police does not in any way fight crime, but rather has further portrayed us as people under siege."

2011 general elections

On the 2011 general elections, Comrade Esele, said: "We have always harped on the need for credible elections in 2011, deepening of internal democracy in the political parties system, and the right of every Nigerian to play active part in the nation's electoral systems.

It is in line with this that we appeal to all Nigerians who are 18 years and above to demonstrate their faith in the country by ensuring that they register in the 2011 voters registration exercise coming from January 15 and also come out to vote during the elections. TUC also reminds all political parties, candidates and their campaigns coordinators to be guided by the rules of the game in their utterances, activities and campaigns and most importantly to focus on issue based campaigns."