There has been a renewed panic all over Nigeria especially among residents of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, following the security alert issued during the week by the US Embassy in Nigeria.

The alert has seen many foreign missions warning their citizens about the likelihood of terror attacks happening in Nigeria, particularly in Abuja, while making plans to evacuate them.

So far, there have been lots of reactions trailing the worrisome information.

In a swift reaction, the Nigeria’s Department of State Services, DSS, advised Nigerians to take necessary precautions, while the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba ordered the increase of security activities in Abuja to secure the FCT as well as assure the people that everything was under control.

 However, the federal government instead, criticized the foreign embassies for allegedly releasing an unconfirmed security alert on the federal capital territory thereby causing panic in the country.

Analyzing the entire situation which according to him, is a desperate situation that demands urgent solution, Nigeria’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, described the times in Nigeria as worrisome, and moved to deconstruct the roles of every actor in the game.

“The security threat that has now been made public is increasing every day. The US started it, UK, India joined and Australia, Canada have joined, and I suspect that the number is going to be increasing.

“Don’t forget that intelligence that is available to embassies in Abuja are not collated from just the information gathered within Abuja or Nigeria. This information could have been picked up from any of the listening posts of the US anywhere in the world. We Nigerians don’t have that intelligence capability, therefore, don’t let us demonize the Americans or any of the embassies that are involved in this”.

Prof Akinyemi further explained that “America’s responsibility is to its citizens; one American citizen getting killed in any of what they suspect may happen, will bring the wrath of Congress on the American Ambassador here. The job of the Nigerian Minister of information is to calm things down in this country and to deflect the panic effect the information may cause. So, each one is performing its role”.

He reiterated that “These are inconvenient times for Nigeria because it’s election time and campaigns have started. All these one million, two and five million-man-march we see all over the country are soft targets for terrorists and we know; the Americans don’t need to tell us, we’ve been having these terrorists’ attacks;  go back to the time of Jonathan, there was Boko Haram attack even on the United Nations building in Abuja.

“I have served on Boko Haram committee, where we went round this country and villagers told us that at night, they had seen helicopters landing, dropping weapons, supplies for these miscreants. The villagers had no reason to lie that they saw those helicopters if the helicopters were not available”.

He further stated that what he will expect to happen now that Nigeria is exposed because of the campaign season, is for the President to come back from South Korea; if he is not already back. He shouldn’t go anywhere, because he’s got flood problems on his hand, the evacuation of foreign personnel from his country which has raised what I would call the threat target of Nigeria. He should order the National Security Adviser, (because this no longer a question of military versus military), after assessment, to call the political parties to stop these million-man march that can be easily attacked.

Also, over the past two years those of us who monitor these things, the press has been very educative in terms of letting us know where people have set up camps all over Nigeria, not only in the North. I would like to see more helicopter activities all over Nigeria so that the cells would know that they are being monitored. You are reassuring Nigerians that the security forces are in control. Recall when the Methodist Primate was abducted in the Southeast, when he came out, he told us what these people told him that the cells were already in place, waiting to be activated by communication from their commanders. Let us have a visible presence of action by security men”.

He also emphasized the need to ensure that those involved in securing their communities such as AMOTEKUN, JTF, are armed not just the police and army, stressing that, “there are not enough arms in the hands of the army or police to cope with what they are about to confront; what the Americans, British are insinuating in Nigeria”. 

He further advocated massive recruitment into the Nigerian security forces.

On whom to believe, the Minster of Information who dismissed the threat alert or DSS which began drills to assure the public that things were under control. Prof Akinyemi says, “I will believe the police and the Americans. The Americans have information from all over the world. Those who follow this system know that at times, information about what is going to happen in Nigeria, could have been picked up in Afghanistan, Syria or anywhere. So, I will believe the Americans and police who know how to do assessment of reaction to intelligence covered. Let this be a warning signal; we’ve missed so many warning signals”

He recalled that when late president Yar’Adua came into power and set up committee which he was a part of, “We called attention to the government on what needed to be done but that report was ignored. I like to see massive recruitment into the Nigerian police and the setting up of different divisions”.

Prof Akinyemi’s suggestion to halt rallies may not sound sweet to the politicians who say the police and other security forces should do their job rather than asking them to stop their campaigns and rallies which they believe would mean infringing on their rights, but, he maintained that’s the right call considering how dire the situation is. “We should stop talking about rights, when we have existential danger to the republic and that’s why I said, the NSA should, after clearance with the president who should be back on seat, call in the politicians and read the riot out to them. I’m not interested in your rights to assembly, if you are presenting soft targets. This is a question of balancing rights with responsibilities. We don’t have enough policemen to provide you with protection”.

He insisted that these are difficult times, calling for difficult decisions.

“If we ban million-man rallies, fortunately, we have had for the past ten years, multiplication of radio, television stations, switch the tactics and start addressing the people through adverts, addresses, etc, to confront the threats we are facing, that will be ideal for now.  It’s a dangerous time for Nigeria, it’s going to be hard time for Nigeria, so let us repackage our security strategy and political strategy accordingly but the government itself must stop demonizing anybody who brings uncomfortable facts to their attention. The Americans are doing their job to their people, our own government agencies and spokespersons’ role is to calm down and try to reassure us but not at the risk of asking us to go to sleep when there is about to be a fire in the roof”.

On a final note, he emphasized that “These are going to be interesting times in the Sahel and West Africa. We Nigeria, which is the most powerful country in West Africa, must wake up to our responsibilities. We have done that in the past eighteen years. We’ve had presidents who have been so concerned about their own pockets and over-bloated role in global affairs that they have forgotten to build up their own countries.

“We’ve had presidents who are not interested in foreign affairs, and presidents whose definition of national interest is frankly treasonous. We need to wake up. There is an existential threat to Nigeria, and we know where this threat is coming from, and we are being warned so that we don’t wake up one morning and say nobody told us. That is the role of people like me, I have nothing to gain, in fact, I’m so patriotic, and loyal to Nigeria but loyalty should not be defined in terms of support for the government of the day or a particular political party. I’ve gone beyond that, I’m 80 plus and will be 81 in three months’ time. So, what do I have to gain by running down my country but I’m not going to go silent, I’m going to scream and scream. We shouldn’t be afraid. The Americans, Britain have taken the courage to tell us what they have heard and seen, its for us to package our own activities to make sure that we are not asleep”.