PURE INSANITY OR AN ACT OF TERRORISM

There are surprises; pleasant and unpleasant. In Nigeria, recently, we have been having a deluge of the latter. Firstly, a brief medical check-up of the president in a first-class hospital turning into a sabbatical and French leave in Saudi hospice. Secondly, while the world was grappling with the Christmas season, a Nigerian attempted to blow a US bound plane. Thirdly, the imbroglio about the refusal of the president to transmit power to his vice, pressures from quarters for him to do so, the unexpected presence of a cabal blindly loyal to the president ( sick or not) and the eventual though belated conferment of acting status on the vice-president. It is obvious that these infamies are becoming one too many.

The crux of this writing is the shocking occurrence at the Margaret Ekpo International Airport in Calabar in which a man attempted to blow up a plane belonging to Arik fleet by driving straight to the runway and ramming it into the plane. When news flittered in that a Nigerian gentleman had stopped being gentle by attempting to blow up a US bound Detroit plane and the consequent inclusion of Nigeria into America’s terror watch list. We all cried wolf saying Nigerians are not and can never be terrorists. We came up with the argument that though Mutallab was a Nigerian by name, he was not at heart and no true Nigerian will want to die even if he was promised a mansion full of cosmopolitan virgins. How do we now explain this recent fateful development? The cab driver at the eye of the storm declared stupidly that he would come back and round off his unfinished business. The action of the cab driver did not only jeopardize the lives of the 200 people on board, it also raised some critical questions as to the safety of our airports vis-à-vis the runways. It was also in a Nigerian airport that we saw a herd of cattle running onto the runway. Is the runway a green field where cattles graze? It must be in such a deplorable state for cattles to mistake it for grazing field.

This recent ‘punisher’ has successfully proven that there are terrorists in Nigeria and I doubt if the white house will grant us the reprieve we brazenly crave for.

I have a few suggestions that if implemented, will put a stop to these spates of shameless occurrences in our airports.

All the security men that were on duty at all the gates when the cab driver did his stunts should be sacked and made the feel the full wrath of the law. They were negligent of their duty and by allowing to ride unchallenged as there was no report of gate crashing, they are all accomplices to his crime.

The national assembly should pass a bill that would make it a criminal offence to ride straight unto the runway. This law should be binding on the rich and the poor alike as what is good for the goose is certainly good for the gander. If you are too rich to queue with others at the terminal, then get your own aircraft and international airspace license and if you do not want to miss your flight, go on time to the airport for your flight.

Security should be tightened at all the airports. The airport is not a market. The airports project the image of the country to a visitor. If it is rowdy, the visitor will assume that the country is unstable and if it is serene, the visitor will have just that impression.