It may appear too distant a comparison just yet, but the bombings in the past few days must concern all Nigerians as the 2007 elections draw near. Is Nigeria becoming politically unstable as Iraq, or are these just isolated instances of chaos?
There have only been two major issues in the past that compare to the couple of bombings against political opponents in Benin and Asaba: the bombings of Dele Giwa and the official residence of an Osun State legislator, Dr. Sunday Oladimeji, for making noise about the June 12 election annulment during the transitional government of Ernest Shonekan.
Since then, Nigeria has largely avoided dealing with bombs of any kind, with the exception of a fake one staged by the Abacha regime in order to get an opponent in the aviation industry. Strangely enough, bombing and arson started returning as a political weapon from 2003, but seriously only in three weeks, with the reported arrest of a man with bombs at the airport in Lagos. From that very moment, Nigeria is almost appearing to be a Baghdad.
It all started in Warri, where the home of the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Niger Delta, Senator Patrick Osakwe, was destroyed through an explosion. The senator fingered an Asaba governorship aspirant as the mastermind of the attack. It then moved to Benin, Edo State, where the home of a prominent politician was suddenly in flames after a bomb was detonated through a car. The politician, Mr. Richard Ehimigbai, has been arrested by the Police in Benin in connection with the incident.
Mr. Ehimigbai had told newsmen in his 2, Ezena Street, First Ugbor residence that the explosion, which killed his nephew, Mr. Godwin Aigbekhai, had started from one of the three Mercedes Benz 230 cars the deceased brought into his compound “the night before, for the purposes of repairs and reselling.” There are fears, however, that the explosion might have been an attempt on the life of Mr. Ehimigbai, who is a council chairmanship aspirant for Owan East Local Government.
The explosive had been planted in the domestic car of the politician with Anambra plate number AM 13 FGG. Experts’ opinions suggest that the explosive is an improvised device with dynamite as its major component that has a mechanism of a GSM phone system. The explosive had blown off at a calculated business hour, when the vehicle was timed to be carrying the owner and his family, perhaps for a routine school run.
Components of Nokia handset, partially detonated foils of a commercially oriented explosive with remnants of 12 volts battery, were discovered at the scene of the blast by the team of American trained bomb disposal experts in charge of Benin and Port Harcourt zones. A fleet of cars, including six Mercedes Benz, one Honda Civic, a Toyota Avalon, Mazda 262 and two BMW 3 series, said to be for sale, were equally destroyed by the explosion. Until his untimely death, Godwin Aigbekhai worked with an engineering company in Warri, Delta State. Buildings within 200 meters away from the scene of the accident were also affected.
Evidently, Nigerians have begun to acquire terrorrism skills comparable to what obtains in the turbulent Middle East.
As if that was not enough, one day later in Asaba, the culture of bomb explosions became apparent when the campaign office of a House of Representatives aspirant, Mr Ndudim Elumelu was shattered. Elumelu, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP is in the race to represent the Aniocha/Oshimili federal constituency at the lower chamber of the National Assembly. However, fire from the suspected bomb explosion on the campaign office complex located opposite the state Police Command headquarters on Okpanam as well as federal and state secretariats and state Assembly road in Asaba ,the capital city, gutted a section of the office.
Two objects suspected to be bomb explosives were discovered inside the main office complex by police where the fire had greater impact at the scene of the blast. THISDAY checks showed that substance of the blast was fired from behind the wall fence harbouring the campaign complex straight into one of the aluminium window louvres , the effect of which left the area on fire. Office equipment worth millions of naira were destroyed in the incident which occurred at about 2:13 am yesterday. According to explanations by two security guards attached to the campaign office ,there was a deafening blast in the early hours of the day within the premises which woke them from sleep.
One of the guards who gave his name as Atiku Abdul Mumini an indigene of Adamawa state said the impact of the explosion had elicited thick smoke from the back of the complex prompting them to suspect something strange.
He explained that it was as he went round to find out what happened that he discoverd the fire caused by the sudden explosion,stressing that the development forced him to alert his boss who was in Abuja and had also reported the occurence to both the Police and the State Security Services (SSS).
But police in the state and officials of the campaign office yesterday attributed the blast to the handwork of political opponents and mischief makers out to scuttle the ambition of the Onicha -Uku born politician. Already the operatives of the state Security Service ,SSS, and police investigation team of the state command had as at 9:45 am yesterday cordoned off the area while visitors were barred from the complex as news of the explosion took people by surprise.
The Commissioner of Police ,Mr. Udom Ekpoudom as at the time of filing this report said men of the Bomb Disposal Unit of the state command would be drafted to the scene to determine the existence of more of the objects . According to Ekpoudom ''it is all politics .It is not robbery case.From behind they (suspects ) threw some explosives inside .Nobody was wounded.There was some items in the office that were burnt .Inside there are one or two unexploded bombs inside.I have sent for bomb disposable unit, they wiil soon arrive.When they come they are going to open the office.They will go inside and see if there are other bombs and detonate them" Reacting also the director security operations ,Elumelu Campaign Organisation ,Barrister Linus Nwaozomudoh decribed the incident as "tragic and a clear work of enemies," adding that despite the situation they aspirant and his team were undeterred . Meanwhile operatives of the Delta state command of the SSS has swung into action with a view to unravelling those behind the early morning blast.
State Director of the Service ,Mr.Adebayo Babalola and his men had on getting report about the blast immediately eaced to the scene to ascertain the extent of damage done to the campaign office. The team of the SSS operatives had on arrival taken the security aide (guard) of Chief Elumelu to their office in Asaba for questioning The attack on Elumelu's campaign office came just few weeks a popular politician and Commissioner of Water Resources in the state Chief Ighoyota Amori escaped by whiskers from the hands of suspected assassins.
The development has raised fears in various quarters over the conduct of next year's elections in the state following the tense political situation and factioalisation of the PDP family in the state. The attack on Elumelu may not be unconnected with his alleged romance with a camp loyal to a governorship aspirant from Delta North senatorial district ,Chief Godwill Obielum whose side has been slugging it out in the state over who gets the nod to the state Government House come 2007.
It is not clear what will happen in 2007, but with the murder of aspirants through assassinations, and now bombing of opposition candidates, Nigeria may be crossing the line from normality to chaos.
