Really sad,the officer-in-charge at the recently bombarded Atlas Cove in lagoes Commander K.Aweh died needlessly:

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=150175

[center][b]Revealed: Navy Ignored Warning on Atlas Cove[/b]By Eugene Agha, 07.30.2009[/center]

THISDAY Investigation

THISDAY has learnt that the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of Atlas Cove jetty, Lagos, Navy Commander Kolawole Aweh, who was killed by militants, complained to naval authorities about the security lapses at the facility shortly before it was attacked on the night of July 12.
It was the first major attack outside of the Niger Delta by the militants, a development that angered the Lagos State government.
Informed sources told the newspaper that some of dangers which the slain officer complained about included the proximity of fishing communities to the jetty, shortage of arms and ammunition and lack of functional patrol boats.
Sequel to his complaint, he was said to have been given one GPMG rifle and some small calibre guns.
A naval source alleged that the arms were among those that were destroyed by the militants.
Minutes after the bombing, the Naval Headquarters in Abuja ordered a full-scale investigation into the attack, for which the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) claimed responsibility. The probe was said to have been prompted by a suspicion of negligence.
THISDAY reliably learnt that the late Commander Awe had gone to the Western Naval Command Headquarters, Apapa, Lagos, a few days before the attack to complain of vulnerability of the security operatives posted to the jetty.
The source said Awe reported that only one duty watch was observed by the jetty, while the back of the Cove was left unprotected.
The authorities had reportedly reasoned that assailants could only access the place from the jetty and not from the fishing communities flanking the Cove.
“As if he had a premonition that something terrible was going to happen, he requested additional arms and ammunition as a result of which he was given one GPMG rifle and several other small calibre guns,” the source added.
Awe, who only resumed duty at Atlas Cove a few weeks before the incident, had embarked on a tour of the entire area.
Naval authorities had, prior to the attack, received an intelligence report of a possible attack on an oil facility in Lagos, THISDAY learnt.
It was also learnt that the authorities had dismissed the threat, arguing that there was no major facility in Lagos.
Though, the navy posted some of its men to patrol the pipelines that criss-crossed the entire area, the attack caught the navy unawares.
When contacted, the Director of Information, Nigerian Navy, Commodore David Nabaida, told THISDAY on phone that it was not the fault of the navy that the place is porous.
He argued that it was the responsibility of the owners of the area to provide additional security measures.
“Whose duty it is to secure the facility? Is it the navy? Who made the place porous? Is it the navy? The responsibility of the navy is to protect the nation’s territorial waters and not performing security duties. But I tell you security cannot be 100 per cent. America which is the strongest nation had its trade centre blown off,” he said.
While reacting to the allegation that the navy wrote and got the permission of the Federal Government to have the exclusive right of policing Atlas Cove, he dismissed it with a wave of the hand, alleging that it was the handiwork of those who saw nothing good in the navy.
Sources at Takwa Bay, Tomaro, Ibeshe and Ilado fishing communities, which are not too far from the Atlas Cove where the operation was carried out, alleged that some strangers had invaded the communities a few days before the incident.
They stated that nobody knew their mission, but some believed that they could be some illegal oil bunkerers who besiege the villages in search of information about merchant ships in need of petroleum products or food.
Some fishermen around the villages told THISDAY that they strongly believed that the assailants might have mounted their surveillance network around those places before the operation was carried out.
Questions are still being asked about why the two naval outstations in Lagos – at Bar Beach and Epe – were unable to identify the dangers before the militants struck?
“We heard that the militants arrived the place in 15 outboard engine boats. By experience, I have come to know that one of those boats can carry about 15 persons at a time, if that is so, then it goes to mean that about 225 persons arrived Atlas Cove on that fateful day. This is a very serious security lapse which must not be swept under the carpet,” a commercial boat operator who shuttles between Liverpool and the fishing communities said in Yoruba.
On the day of the attack, the OIC was believed to have been attracted by the sound of a gun shot as he came out of the office used by the naval personnel.
He was shot, but did not die instantly as he staggered inside to inform his juniors of the presence of “robbers”.
One other person, a woman, was also killed in the process. It was later discovered that the woman had come to lodge a complaint at the outstation and was on her way out when the militants struck.
All the bodies were burnt beyond recognition. The armoury was also not spared as they set the entire place on fire. They had blown up the pipeline with dynamite placed in strategic places before they left the same way they came, unnoticed.
Naval sources in Lagos told THISDAY that about 25 naval ratings who were also on duty escaped the attack. Though they sustained various degrees of injuries, but the source alleged that they survived because they hid themselves in the water.
Currently, the authorities have sealed off the entire area. Visitors are screened by stern-looking naval personnel who were deployed in the wake of the attack.

Our security forces are in decay. Ojo cantonment is just across from Atlas Cove, but MEND spent up to 3 hours ensuring that everything was blown up. However, these security forces are good at beating civilians and letting off "accidental discharges".
It is a sad commentary on the state of Nigeria.

Some quotes from the article.

When contacted, the Director of Information, Nigerian Navy, Commodore David Nabaida, told THISDAY on phone that it was not the fault of the navy that the place is porous.
He argued that it was the responsibility of the owners of the area to provide additional security measures.
“Whose duty it is to secure the facility? Is it the navy? Who made the place porous? Is it the navy? The responsibility of the navy is to protect the nation’s territorial waters and not performing security duties. But I tell you security cannot be 100 per cent. America which is the strongest nation had its trade centre blown off,” he said.

“We heard that the militants arrived the place in 15 outboard engine boats. By experience, I have come to know that one of those boats can carry about 15 persons at a time, if that is so, then it goes to mean that about 225 persons arrived Atlas Cove on that fateful day. This is a very serious security lapse which must not be swept under the carpet,” a commercial boat operator who shuttles between Liverpool and the fishing communities said in Yoruba.

Really sad indeed. We could have been invaded for all you know.

Really sad indeed.

Commander Aweh, may your soul rest in perfect peace!

Amen. . . . .

Who should we hold responsible for the soul of Commander Aweh?

The bloodthirsty MEND militants and their spokesman

@Dayo

It is allowed for southerners to kill southerners, it is only when northerners have the cheek to kill anybody that everybody goes mental, there was a communal clash in ebonyi state that claimed as many lives as those in Jos, yet, no one heard a thing about it here, the Ebonyi people will still vote the same party that could not guarantee their security into power next week.