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| President Goodluck Jonathan and Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim, during the President’s visit to the site of the bomb blast, at the Force Headquarters, in Abuja... on Friday |
This year’s celebration would be low-profile as the government was wary of bomb attacks by the fundamentalist Boko Haram sect, which had been waging a relentless war against the FG.
The Assistant Director, Press, to the Minister of Interior, Theodore Jackson, confirmed the development, saying the preparations for the Independence Day celebrations had been put on hold.
According to him, the programme of events, which is usually released few weeks to the celebration day, has not been issued.
He said, “What I can say is that the preparations for the celebration have been put on hold for now. The government has not issued the programme of events, but from what I gathered, the event would be very low-key.”
Attempts to reach the minister were not successful as he could not be reached on his phone for full disclosure on government plans for the October 1 celebration.
It was further gathered that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had yet to issue invitation letters to Foreign Embassies for this year’s Independence Day celebration; a sign that it would be devoid of the usual pomp and pageantry.
Confirming this, Mr Wale Adebajo of the Communication Section of the British High Commission in response to an inquiry said, “We are yet to receive an official invite to the Independence Day events. We will be honoured to attend and trust that the Nigerian security will be adequately in place.”
His counterpart at the United States Embassy, Mr. Sani Mohammed, in response to whether an invite had been sent to them by the FG said, “I think this question should be directed to Nigerian authorities.”
It was not clear as at the time of filing this report whether or not there will be the traditional military parade often associated with such events.
Attempts to get official comments from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with regard to the invitation were unsuccessful as the Foreign Affairs Minister, Amb. Olugbenga Ashiru, led a delegation of ministry staff to accompany President Goodluck Jonathan to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Calls to the mobile phone of the spokesperson for the ministry, Mr. Damien Agu, did not go through; text messages to the same number went unanswered.
However, a member of staff of the ministry, who declined to give his name said, “It is the office of the minister that handles such issues. If there is going to be an event of this magnitude that will involve foreign dignitaries, the minister issues a directive for us to prepare and send out invitation letters but as we speak, no such directive has been given.”
The member of staff however said, “It is not late, October 1 is still over a week from now, there is still time.”
It would be recalled that last year, many foreign dignitaries accepted invitations to attend Nigeria’s 50th Independence anniversary celebrations but backed out barely 24 hours to the event.
Their decision was informed by bomb threats which turned out to be true.
The statement allegedly issued by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta read, “With due respect to all invited guests, dignitaries and attendees of the 50th independence anniversary of Nigeria being held today, Friday, October 1, 2010 at the Eagle Square Abuja, the MEND is asking everyone to begin immediate evacuation of the entire area within the next 30 minutes. This warning expires after 10:30 hours.
“Several explosive devices have been successfully planted in and around the venue by our operatives working inside the government security services.
“In evacuating the area, keep a safe distance from vehicles and trash bins. There is nothing worth celebrating after 50 years of failure.
“For 50 years, the people of the Niger Delta have had their land and resources stolen from them. The constitution before independence which offered resource control was mutilated by illegal military governments and this injustice is yet to be addressed.”
Although a number of diplomats who came into the country for the event were ferried from the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, an unspecified number remained behind in their rooms.
A Canadian diplomat who is ending his term of duty said, “I was at Eagle Square (venue of the parade) when the bombs went off but did not know anything was wrong until I received a text message.”
He explained that while some of them decided to ignore the threats, others decided it was credible enough for them to steer clear of the venue.
Despite the seeming unpreparedness of the FG as October 1 approaches, security agencies in the country are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that it is not marred by any incident of bombings and the killing of innocent Nigerians.
The Police Force Public Relations Officer, Shola Amore, said the police would not disclose their plans. He said, “Security strategies are not discussed on the pages of newspapers but we have taken good care of the security that would be needed on that day.”
Investigations reveal that operatives of the State Security Service have commenced holistic preparations.
It was gathered that security operatives have also taken over all the high rise buildings in and around the Eagle Square to ensure that the country was not embarrassed by terrorist organisations affiliated to the Boko Haram sect.
The source dismissed insinuations that foreign delegates, ambassadors and high commissioners might be wary of attending the event because of the security situation in the country.
It was further gathered that the October 1, 2011 anniversary would be marked by an unprecedented deployment of security personnel.
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