/ 3 October 2010

Nigerian authorities ‘were warned about terrorist attack’

Nigerian Authorities 'were Warned About Terrorist Attack'

Questions have been raised about how much the Nigerian authorities knew about a militant bomb attack that killed 12 people in the capital, Abuja.

It has emerged that British dignitaries pulled out of a parade on Friday, marking the 50th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence, after receiving a warning of a security risk. The event was later hit by three car bombs.

The explosions late on Friday morning came an hour after the main militant group in the oil-rich southern delta, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), threatened in an email to attack the festivities and warned people to evacuate the area.

Nigerian newspaper This Day, citing sources in the presidency, said the government had failed to avert the attack despite receiving a warning from British intelligence.

“We tried our best, working on several locations, but somehow we couldn’t foil the plot,” an unnamed senior minister told the paper.

The Queen’s representative, the Duke of Gloucester, was scheduled to attend the parade but did not, while former prime minister Gordon Brown cancelled his visit to the country altogether.

Two car bombs detonated outside the justice ministry in Abuja. A third, smaller explosion hit a venue at nearby Eagle Square, where President Goodluck Jonathan sat with hundreds of Nigerian and foreign dignitaries. Police spokesperson Jimoh Moshoo said the blasts killed 12 people and injured 17.

Jonathan, who faces an election next year, left in an armoured limousine without making a scheduled address. The celebrations, with army bands, dancing children and air force displays, continued without him.

Stolen resources
Mend has been fighting for years for a greater share of oil revenues from the Niger delta, home to Africa’s biggest oil and gas industry. The delta, which is also home to the president, is impoverished and polluted by oil spills.

In its warning email, Mend said: “For 50 years, the people of the Niger delta have had their land and resources stolen from them.” The group has previously operated primarily in the delta, hundreds of kilometres from the capital, although it has struck offshore oil installations and in the country’s commercial capital, Lagos. The attacks, the first on Abuja and in defiance of tight security surrounding the celebrations marking Nigeria’s independence from the UK, are the militants’ boldest yet.

Mend’s attacks subsided after an amnesty deal last year provided cash for fighters and the promise of job training. However, many ex-fighters say the government has failed to fulfil its promises.

Elizabeth Donnelly, Africa programme manager at the foreign policy thinktank Chatham House, said: “This latest violence has broken the amnesty, but the questions will be which part of Mend has perpetrated the violence — it could be men from the lower ranks who did not benefit from the deal — and whether or not this is part of a bigger, longer-term strategy.”

She added that few ordinary Nigerians would have sympathy with the terrorists, but neither did many have confidence in the government.

Nigeria’s oil production has climbed from about 1,6-million barrels a day before the amnesty to about two-million now. A return to violence could have implications for Nigeria’s economic growth.

Alan Cameron, of Business Monitor International, said the attacks risked reinforcing foreign perceptions that Nigeria was at risk of slipping into violence, necessitating military intervention, or even a coup. But he added: “In our view, these fears are still a little overdone, although today’s incident will create huge pressure on Jonathan to show that he can keep the situation under control.” – guardian.co.uk