Kenya shopping mall siege: Nigerians fear replication

By  Juliana Francis)
When suicide bombing started in some countries, Nigerians had gone about their daily activities, naively believing that such form of terrorism and suicide would never come to their shores. Many Nigerians argued that Nigerians would never try such as they apparently loved and lived life to its brim.
But subsequent attacks by suicide bombers in Nigeria, which had claimed many innocent lives, had put paid to those thoughts and the idea of looking at the next stranger sitting beside them with rose coloured tinted glasses.
But the attack of a high profile shopping mall, Westgate shopping mall, on September, 21, 2013, in Nairobi, Kenya, was one hellish experience which many Nigerians have described as ‘terrifying and horrifying.’

Frightened Westgate mall victims

There are fears that the Nigerian dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram, may decide to replicate what happened in Kenya, in Nigeria. And with some many top notch shopping malls scattered across the country, nobody knows when and where they might strike. Thus the situation is tense.
The attack on the mall was said to have started at about 12:30 p.m. A grenade was believed to have been thrown on the rooftop parking lot where a children’s cooking competition was being taped for television.  Simultaneously, some of the attackers, armed to the teeth with assault rifles and grenades stormed the mall’s main ground-floor entrance and its basement parking garage, firing as they came. People dove for cover in restaurants and ran for stairwells. More grenades exploded.

kenya-attack

People rushed for the doors only to run into sporadic gunfire. Other shoppers ran for the fire exits and, later, crawled out of air-conditioning ducts.
At least 67 were confirmed killed by the militants, but it is believed that there could be more bodies in the collapsed portion of the mall. The Red Cross has reported 47 people missing who were believed to be trapped inside.
The assault on Westgate mall marked the deadliest single attack in the capital since the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombing, in which more than 200 people died. The assailants who seized the Nairobi shopping mall killed 61 civilians and six security forces. The Somali militant group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility. The group said it had targeted Kenya partly because of Kenyan peacekeepers fighting al-Shabaab in Somalia.

Victim%u2019s Mother

In  a voice pop conducted with different customers in shopping malls in Lagos State by PUNCH, the shoppers expressed their fears and anxieties, urging government and security agencies to quickly do something on security of shopping malls.
Their fears and worries are real, but a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), who wishes to remain anonymous, insisted that their fears were needless.

He said: “Let me tell you. Such an attack can never in Nigeria. This is because the backbone of the Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau is dead! If he was not dead, he would have come up with a video to ridicule the claims of the Joint Military Task Force which said they had killed him. I however believe that he is mortally wounded or dead. There’s no way Boko Haram can attack any shopping mall. Their brain and leader is dead.”
Security experts, who are retired senior police officers, who had seen all sort of deaths, political intrigues, terrorisms, amongst others, in security clime, are not doubtful that such can happen in Nigeria. Each of them urged security agencies and shopping mall owners to be proactive.
Retired Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mr. Udah Azubuko, who brought peace to the volatile Niger Delta region, during the militants’ crisis in Niger Delta, by presenting a blueprint on amnesty to the Federal Government and later given to the militants, said security agencies in Nigeria, especially the police, should learn from what happened in Kenya.
Azubuko, who now has a law chamber in Abuja and also runs a security consultancy outfit, said: “There was prior information to security agencies in Kenya, that the shopping mall would be attacked. They had the information, but were too complacent with the information. This led to the death of so many people!
“Security agencies, especially the police, since I was a policeman before I retired, should take the initiative and learn from Kenya. Police in Nigeria should ensure that shopping malls are protected. The security of these malls should not be left to the police alone. Mall owners should help security agencies by putting modern security gadgets in their malls. Such gadgets should be able to link up with the police.
“The shopping malls should also use the services of private security firms, to keep vigil at the malls. The security gadgets will be able to track and trigger off if anyone with arms is about to go inside. What happened at Kenya is an eye opener to us in Nigeria. Muslim militants in Nigeria can also imitate their Kenya counterparts. The militant group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility and are feeling happy. A stitch in time saves nine. Police should call all mall owners and have a lecture with them. There is no time to waste. Let them put a watertight security around the shopping malls, so that the lives of the shoppers and workers will not be jeopardised.”
Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, a former commissioner of police has this to say: “Right now, all security agencies should be at alert. They should begin to monitor everyone going into any shopping mall. And the mall owners should have machines which will be able to detect anyone going into the mall with guns or explosives. In fact, go to banks and you’ll be sad at what you see. You will find a security guard, sleeping on duty; others leave their job of security, to chat with banking customers. Anyone can attack a security guard that is sleeping. The attack at Kenya is a lesson to us! Some of these malls should be built with just one entrance to ensure proper monitoring of people going inside.”
Mr. Frank Odita, another ex-Commissioner of Police said: “The best way to forestall what happened in Kenya from happening in Nigeria is for security agencies to ensure that areas of high population are adequately patrolled and covered. Shopping malls should have CCTV in place and physical presence of patrol by security agencies. There is need for intelligence gathering. We should be proactive now! This means there’s early warning that something might happen. This will make people to become conscious about people, especially strangers around them.”
Mr. Folorunsho Atta, a seasoned crime reporter said: “Look, security agencies don’t need to wait for what happened in Kenya to happen in Nigeria before they do something. But sadly, that had always been the method of our security agencies; they wait for something to happen before they react.
“Our security agencies always seek medicine after death. When something happens, they would concentrate on that particular event and leave other areas wide open. When terrorists struck at the UN building in Abuja, which was when they suddenly beefed up security at other embassies. Personally, I think security agencies should be all over the place. The major problem of our security agencies however, is intelligence failure! The money that was supposed to be spent on investigation, research, intelligence gathering and pay informants,
including students to give information, has been pocketed by a few people. Terrorist can strike at anywhere and anytime. You might be surprise to know that they can even strike at the SSS, military or naval buildings. They can dress like a cleric, gathered people who are supposed to be their adherents or congregation, but are in actual fact terrorists, and still carry out their deadly acts.”
The Nigeria Police spokesman, CSP Frank Mba refused to comment on the issue. The question however is this: does Nigeria have enough security agents to man all the shopping malls in the country?