I Reported Some Smokers Before The Nyanya Blast - Sani Aliyu

MONDAY’S blast at Nyanya Bus Park in Nasarawa State, which killed scores and left many others wounded, could have been averted had the Defence Headquarters responded appropriately to a security tip-off, an activist with the Rights and Democracy Volunteers, Sani Aliyu, said Tuesday in Abuja.


Aliyu told a roundtable organised by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Foundation to discuss cooperation between civil society organisations and the media on the security challenge in Nigeria that about a week ago, he spotted some young men in town early in the morning with bands on their heads, smoking.
“I immediately went to the military headquarters and reported,” he narrated. “The boys themselves, in vehicles, came to the front of the military headquarters and stood for some time and the military did not do anything.

“Yesterday (Monday), when the bombing happened, I went back to the military headquarters but they told me they couldn’t arrest the boys because they didn’t have the authority to arrest them.”

Meanwhile, Resident Representative of the Foundation in Nigeria, Hildegard Behrendt-Kigozi, has called on Nigerians to avoid polarisation despite the biting security challenges the country faces at the moment.


In her address at the discussion, she noted that such uprisings or insurgencies have occurred and are still occurring in many countries of the world. Therefore, Nigerians should rather tackle it than allow it to polarise the country.

She urged Nigerians to unite against the ugly trend irrespective of religion, ethnicity and other factors, noting: “What worries me about Nigeria is that I’m afraid of polarisation. It can be dangerous and everyone should avoid that by all means. It could lead to what nobody wants.”

According to her, no matter how unified a people are, there are always a few people causing problems for everyone, and Nigerians should not be distracted by the few; instead, the majority should work together to end the problems.

More so, other discussants at the roundtable advised the media to avoid being drawn into the blame game trap by politicians, as politicians and political parties will employ them to denigrate others on the security lapses just to gain edge.