Government and corporate security executives have been
advised to take urgent proactive steps in preventing an imminent Al Qaeda
attack on Nigerian soil. Such a
terrorist attack on a target of opportunity could result in mass fatalities.
In a press release issued in Lagos on Tuesday, the President
of Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria (AISSON),
Dr. Ona Ekhomu said that the trajectory of the Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
(AQIM) and Al Mourabitoun (AMB) recent wave of terrorist attacks in West Africa
showed that Nigeria was the probable next target. “The most likely target
cities are Abuja or Lagos,” he said.
The security expert said that intelligence analysis conducted
from open source materials on the current phase of implacable jihad mounted by
Al Qaeda on West African nations showed that Nigeria was in the next logical
target for an active shooter attack by a six man hit team of terrorists.
Ekhomu said that the rigorous analysis conducted by analysts
in the School of Management and Security Lagos focused the following variables:
choice of country, choice of targets, methods of attacks, choice of weapons,
timing of attacks, police/military capabilities, response time, security awareness
of local populace, etc. He said that all three recent hotel attacks in West
Africa targeted hotels and were carried out by an alliance of AQIM and AMB.
Dr. Ekhomu said that the three recent West African attacks --
Radisson Blu in Bamako – Mali, the Splendid Hotel in Ouagadougou – Ivory Coast
and the Grand Bassam Resort in Ivory Coast caused 73 deaths and involved only
11 attackers. “The odds are in the favor of the terrorists to cause mass deaths
in these attacks,” he added.
He called upon Nigeria’s intelligence community to up its
game in the collection, analysis and dissemination of actionable intelligence
on the Al Qaeda (AQIM and AMB) threat in Nigeria. He said that this is a new
national security threat.
He urged government and corporate security officials to
conduct vulnerability assessments of facilities and work on various threat
scenarios. He urged the police agency to establish tips hotlines for reporting
of suspicious persons and packages. He advised the government to “increase
police visibility and also inject plain clothes police assets into high risk
facilities”.
He warned that hotels, airports, shopping malls, transportation
centers, trophy buildings (such as Federal Secretariat, NNPC Towers, National
Mosque, National Ecumenical Center) and other landmark buildings should receive
enhanced security protection.
He warned: “the Al Qaeda threat is more serious than the Boko
Haram threat and it’s hoped that the government and corporate security will
take this threat more seriously and act to prevent spectacular attacks against
soft and unprepared targets.”
He called on the Nigerian Immigration Service, the Nigeria
Police Force and employers of labor to begin a program which could be tagged
“Operation I’m a Nigerian.” This program should involve the peremptory and
aggressive demand for proof of Nigerian citizenship from individuals anytime
there is an interaction with persons who appear suspicious. This is important
as the intelligence analysts found that the hit teams being deployed by Al
Qaeda are usually Arab foreigners who volunteer to go on the suicide mission.
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