Police's Phoney Terror Suspects

The Nigerian Police must be eager to show some “performance” in the fight against terror that it took the whole country on a ride last week. The official line, as reported by the media, was: “3 ministers, journalists escape death as security operatives arrest man with grenades.” The police account was that “eagle-eyed” security operatives arrested a 39-year old man, one John Akpanum Anaku, with a bag containing 37 rounds of ammunition and three hand grenades on Monday, May 21, 2012 at the Radio House, Abuja, venue of a ministerial press briefing by ministers of Aviation, Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi; (then) Youth Development and Sports, Bolaji Abdullahi; and Information, Labaran Maku. The gentleman, whom the media naively rushed to proclaim a “suicide bomber” or “terrorist”, was arrested by security officers from the Nigerian Legion, according to one John Akindele, a police officer (as reported by the media) and chief security officer at the venue “when it was noticed that he was carrying explosives”. The report by ThisDay was just as alarmist: “Panic in Abuja as Police Arrest 2 Terror Suspects,” the newspaper loudly proclaimed on its front page the morning after the arrest. According to the newspaper, “The police in Abuja yesterday arrested two terror suspects at different locations in the city, thus averting what might have resulted in another bomb attack in the nation’s capital.” In what would have amounted to an amazing display of police dexterity and proactivity, were the reports not essentially a hoax, our newspapers unquestioningly reported apparent propaganda without any attempt at subjecting official storylines to deep rational analysis. The reference to the second “terrorist”, one Abdullahi Salihu, who it was reported “had laced his body with some explosives and hand grenades which he wanted to use to wreak the havoc, but was detected by the security gadgets mounted in FCT” was to another individual arrested same day as the purported Radio House “terrorist” somewhere in the vicinity of Force Headquarters. However, reading between the lines, the truth would soon be obvious to any discerning reader. The fellow arrested at Radio House was a frustrated and depressed individual who had brought ammunition found amongst his late brother’s luggage (the late brother was a former mobile police officer) and SMOKE grenades to the venue of the media briefing in an attempt to meet the minister of Information who was his kinsman from Nasarawa State. His objective appeared to be obtaining some sympathy and assistance towards collecting his late brother’s benefits. The poor gentleman in fact explained to journalists that he had been abandoned and frustrated in life and “so he came to Radio House to make his grievance known to government”. Confused, frustrated and incoherent John Anaku may have been, but he was certainly no terrorist. Even a police spokesman admitted the fact that the purported “grenades” were old, smoke grenades. And what about Salihu who was reported to have laced his body with explosives? Well, as police spokesman, Frank Mba, later admitted, “When we searched him, no explosive was found on him, but there were pieces of broken bottle, bottled water, five Automated Teller Machine cards and a vehicle number plate in the bag he was carrying.” Pray, how do you carry out a suicide bombing with these items? Mba, reluctantly, I imagine, agreed that “so far, there is nothing to suggest that he is a suicide bomber”. Again, poor Salihu may have been slightly out of his mind, a vagrant, an unemployed wanderer, or even a confused or frustrated miscreant or tout, maybe even a medicine man, but terrorist or suicide bomber he certainly was not. The surprising aspect for me, as I mentioned earlier, was the eagerness of the media and police spokesmen to report these two incidences as the busting of terror attempts when it was fairly clear that was not the case. How could the Nasarawa fellow carry out terror with any quantity of ammunition without a gun? Is there a means by which a “terrorist” could wreak terror with ammunition if he didn’t have a gun? Wasn’t it clear the State Security Services (SSS) account of the incidents was more believable? (Indeed, on the whole “Boko Haram” issue, I think the SSS and military have been more credible than the police!) Marilyn Ogar, SSS spokesperson, had cautioned against hasty commentaries and conclusions, explaining that what John Anaku had on him were tear gas canisters and not grenades, and that the fellow was simply trying to meet the Information minister who was his tribesman. While the whole nation was lured into an unnecessary voyage of distraction, substantive acts of terror of course went unchallenged! In Sulemanti ward, Maiduguri, Borno State, a group of gunmen attacked four residences, killing three people (Guardian, May 22, 2012) and destroying two vehicles with petrol bombs! The police spokesman in Borno confirmed the incident and noted that no arrests had so far been made. In another incident also reported in the Guardian, gunmen “sacked the Divisional Police Station at Benisheikh, 72 kilometres west of Maiduguri”. An unfortunate civilian was killed in the attack. While the attackers “used petrol bombs to burn down the whole police station”, the policemen were reported to have taken cover. Interesting! While the police were arresting phoney suspects in Abuja, real terrorists were working undetected elsewhere.