Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) - Politics (9) - Nairaland
Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Politics / Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) (83433 Views)
Gender Inequality In Nigerian Politics (1999 Vs 2015 Vs 2019) / Thugs Attack Kwankwaso’s Convoy In Kano, Supporters Killed. Photos / Boko Haram Attacks Governor Shettima's Convoy In Borno, Many Feared Killed (2) (3) (4)
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| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by Pharaoh4rin(m): 12:09pm On Dec 23, 2020 |
RuudVanNisteroy: Embezzling govt's money is not as easy as the public see it. So if a governor has the intelligence to do it, so be it. I realised that in our youthful time, we brag about gut vs glory, risk vs success but I reality we're too modest to pursue the course. That those who takes risk and becomes Governor or whatever are often considered evil. Each time I see a president, governor, senator etc in a convoy, I feel this aura of glory, believing that this is a glory that gut has begotten. GOD BLESS THE RICH |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by Uchek(m): 1:10pm On Dec 23, 2020 |
Nigeria will be great! HA HA HA |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by Flynnthekidd(m): 3:43pm On Dec 23, 2020 |
RuudVanNisteroy: You say Two?? One just ONE will go a long way...see as the baba pose na...Las Las some of those people might have not eaten when he passed by ooo but na to go see Governor dey their head.... We need better orientation for this country! 1 Like |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by Nobody: 4:04pm On Dec 23, 2020 |
Flynnthekidd:It is to late... they have not changed since 1956...
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| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by engrhorla(m): 5:59pm On Dec 23, 2020 |
RuudVanNisteroy: I swear down It's disheartening �� Nigerians don't deserve this, like seriously 1 Like |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by Nobody: 6:08pm On Dec 23, 2020 |
engrhorla:100 |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by Nobody: 6:46pm On Dec 23, 2020 |
South African politicians don't move like this and their crime rate is equally high. And they are 100 years ahead of us in terms of development. |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by Alexpetra: 9:53pm On Dec 23, 2020 |
If only we can lost ALL our natural resources and see what will be left of us. |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by naptu2: 5:13pm On Dec 25, 2020 |
Reminder. |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by Nobody: 5:45pm On Dec 25, 2020 |
naptu2: |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by Nobody: 7:08pm On Dec 27, 2020 |
Alexpetra:This waste has to end.
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| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by naptu2: 5:05am On Jan 04, 2021 |
I hope the anti-spam bot does not ban me. This will be my last post (well, I think it might be too long to fit in one post, so posts) on this matter. |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by naptu2: 5:07am On Jan 04, 2021 |
No difference between military and civilians Kai! You keep trying to create a distinction between military and civilian rule and that distinction does not really exist. There have been military governments that have used enormous motorcades, just as there have been civilian governments that used enormous motorcades. There have also been military governments that used expensive cars, just as there have been civilian governments that have used expensive cars. I have studied this issue for decades and I know what I'm talking about. These are the enormous motorcades that I've personally witnessed. Pope John Paul II came to Nigeria in 1982 and you should have seen the motorcade that brought President Shehu Shagari back to Dodan Barracks after seeing the Pope off at the airport. It was incredible! President Ibrahim Babangida was infamous for his gigantic motorcades, stretch limousines and insane security measures for his convoys. He travelled to Sokoto one night in 1989 and I monitored his motorcade. It was unbelievable. The first vehicle went past just before 10pm and the last vehicle passed by around 11pm. There were sirens for one hour! Admiral Mike Akhigbe represented General Abdulsalam Abubakar at the NUGA Games at Unilag in 1998 and his motorcade was more than a hundred cars long. All the governors of all the South-Western states, along with the permanent secretaries in the ministries of education and sports, were in that motorcade. There are others that I either only saw on TV or that others told me about, for example, General Babangida's massive motorcade during his state visit to Lagos in 1987 or President Goodluck Jonathan's over 100 car motorcade when he attended an event at the Church of the Assumption, Ikoyi. The point is that both civilian and military governments do it. General Gowon, President Shagari and President Babangida all used stretch limousines as their official cars, so there's no difference between the military and civilians. Why security But the first question we need to ask is, why is there any need for security? One of the strange things that I've discovered in Nigeria is that people think that government functionaries are given protection as a means of showing off. That's not true. 1) Certain government officials are at greater risk of attack because of their jobs and therefore government, which requires them to perform those jobs, must protect them. 2) Government policy must only be changed via democratic means such as elections, legislation and oversight by the National Assembly, court judgements, etc., but some people want to change government policy via violent means and they must be prevented from doing so. 3) The assasination, kidnapping or other violent attack on popular government functionaries could lead to instability and this must be prevented. I'll give you some examples. Professor Dora Akunyili was the director general of NAFDAC. She began a war against fake drugs and it was yielding fruit. The criminals that were engaged in the production and sale of fake drugs were not happy with this so they tried to assasinate her. In other words, they tried to change government policy by using violence. Luckily she survived. I saw Professor Akunyili regularly at that time and I can tell you that the government had to increase security around her in order to protect her. This security was not meant to be a means of showing off, rather it was meant to keep her alive so that she could continue the good work that she was doing. https://www.nairaland.com/2679271/court-discharges-acquits-suspected-attackers Chief Olusegun Osoba was elected governor of Ogun State in 1991 and he was sworn into office in January 1992. I read a very interesting article in the papers some months later. A journalist had gone to Interview him and the journalist was shocked and pleasantly surprised by what he saw. Governor Oshoba had refused to move into Government House after being sworn in and instead he preferred to live in his personal house. He also chose to have very few security guards around him. The journalist got to Oshoba's house and noticed that there were only a handful of security men there. They were watching a football match. He told them that he had an appointment to see the governor and they directed him to the front door. The governor opened the door himself and led the journalist to his bedroom (it was an ensuite bedroom). Governor Oshoba asked for a few minutes to have his bath and the journalist waited until he had finished having his bath and then the interview began. The journalist was pleasantly surprised by the lack of bureaucracy, protocol officers and securitymen at the governor's house, but I could sense the danger that was to come. I wasn't surprised when I read another article (around a year later) about a gunman that attempted to get into the governor's house in order to kill him. The man had gained access into the compound (because security was lax), but luckily the governor's chief detail noticed that the man was walking in a funny way, so he ordered that the man should be stopped and searched and a gun was found on him. The man was interrogated and he confessed that he had been sent by tanker owners. Basically the governor had initiated a programme to provide pipeborne water to several parts of the state that did not have it. This would affect the profits of a group of people who owned tankers that they used to sell water to people in these places and so they sent the man to kill the governor in order to ensure that the programme was not completed. In other words, they tried to change government policy by violence/force. Now I need to address something that you wrote before I go to my next example. I told you that governors of Lagos previously used Mercedes Benz cars and then Jakande chose to use his personal Toyota Crown and I also told you that Lagos State governors used Peugeot 504 vehicles as their official cars between 1984 and 1996 when Governor Mohammed Buba Marwa switched to two armoured Toyota Land Cruisers after his motorcade was repeatedly hit by bomb attacks. You said that what happened to Marwa occurred under military rule, thereby implying that no such thing has occurred since 1999. This is not true. There have been many similar attacks since 1999 and I'll give you a few examples. In 2010 several governors of states in the Niger Delta gathered in Warri for a meeting about the Amnesty Programme. Niger Delta militants detonated a car bomb just outside the venue of the meeting. https://www.nairaland.com/413520/bomb-blast-warri-during-amnesty In the past few months Boko Haram has repeatedly attacked the motorcade of Governor Babagana Zulum and he would have been dead if not for the security around him. Boko Haram attacks Zulum's motorcade. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ejLUdRG-aU In 2014 Boko Haram insurgents attacked General Muhammadu Buhari's motorcade in Kaduna. Luckily the Federal Government had given him an armoured SUV, otherwise he would have died in that attack. The SUV was seriously damaged, but it did its job and protected its occupants. Imagine what would have happened if the insurgents had succeeded in Killing Buhari? Imagine the violence that would have ensued and the number of people that would have been killed if he had died. www.nairaland.com/attachments/12933086_bu3_jpegaafc85b3d764bc5609a15ff563301a11 www.nairaland.com/attachments/12933085_bu4_jpeg056c668987c2003dffe9a36882b597c2 www.nairaland.com/attachments/12933084_bu5_jpege3d71b96002c56392ab829b535667e30 www.nairaland.com/attachments/12933083_bu6_jpega211b50860e242b83415c10ad64094e1 www.nairaland.com/attachments/12933097_bu2_jpegb6ece3e81d0ccca5e3f50dae2079d761 https://www.nairaland.com/1825939/breaking-buhari-survives-bomb-attack Similarly, President Jonathan would not have lived to see the end of his tenure if not for the security measures that were put in place to protect him. Boko Haram would have loved to kill him and I believe that he would have been their number 1 target at the time. Imagine what would have happened if President Jonathan had been killed while he was in office. Imagine the violence and chaos that would have been unleashed on Nigeria. 3 Likes 4 Shares |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by naptu2: 5:08am On Jan 04, 2021 |
We have often seen what happens when popular leaders are killed. It usually leads to violence and many more people end up dead and property is destroyed. For example, General Murtala Muhammed wanted to live a simple life as head of state. He wanted to set himself apart from General Gowon who had long motorcades and whose officers often rode in Mercedes Benz stretch limousines. Therefore, he ordered that nobody else should use a stretch limousine as official car (not even the first lady or the chief of staff). General Murtala lived in the same house that he lived in when he was minister of communications (it was on George Street in Ikoyi). He didn't move into Dodan Barracks. There was no electricity generator in the house. General Obasanjo said that he and General Danjuma had to put a lot of pressure on Murtala to install a generator in his house, for security reasons. When a journalist wrote a false story about Murtala and his wife, he was not arrested, instead Murtala sued him for defamation. General Murtala did not use any motorcade or siren when he was head of state. He used a Mercedes Benz stretch limousine as his official car (the equivalent of an E Class stretch limousine) and it was only him, his ADC, his orderly and the driver in the car. There were no other cars, no motorcycle outriders or sirens. His car wasn't even armoured! He waited in traffic like any other person. The result was that he was killed while waiting in traffic. Murtala was very popular with students, workers' unions and the poor masses and these groups of people blamed the US and the UK for his assassination. Therefore there was a riot after his assassination and many American and European businesses were attacked and their properties destroyed. Video of the memorial church service for General Murtala Muhammed, the riot and attack on British and American properties after Murtala's death and the attempt by some foreigners to repair their building after the riot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgmQ-P-cfCY Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was another simple man. Reverend Monsignor Colonel Pedro Martins wrote about his strange experience with Sir Abubakar. Colonel Pedro Ayodele Martins was a Catholic priest who at various times worked as a science teacher at St Gregory's College, as the head of the Nigerian Army Chaplaincy and as the Vicar General of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos. He died in 2014 at the age of 103 and he was reputed as being the oldest Catholic priest in Africa and probably the oldest retired Nigerian soldier at the time of his death. When this incident occurred in the early 1960s, Pedro Martins was a reverend father and science teacher at St Gregory's College. Father Pedro Martins was driving down Awolowo Road on his way to his residence at St Gregory's College when his car developed a fault. He parked at the side of the road and came down to figure out what was wrong. He was working on the car when another car parked behind him. To his surprise he saw that it was the prime minister. "Father, what is the problem?" Balewa asked. Father Martins told him about the car and Balewa suggested that his driver should take Father Martins home and then get a mechanic to fix the car, while he and his ADC would walk home (the prime minister's residence was at the end of Awolowo Road, right beside Onikan Roundabout). Father Martins was about to protest that he could not allow the prime minister to walk home, but the ADC had already brought out Balewa's things from the car and both of them started walking to the residence (it was only Balewa, his police ADC and the driver that were in the car. There were no escorts or sirens). Of course we all know that Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was assasinated and that his death (along with the death of other politicians and soldiers) led to the counter coup in which many people died and the counter coup led to the Civil War in which even more people died. 3 Likes 4 Shares |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by naptu2: 5:10am On Jan 04, 2021 |
Role of the dignitary in planning motorcades and other security measures Many people assume that the president or governor or other dignitary decides the kind of security that will be provided for him. They assume that the president tells people the length of time that the roads should be blocked or how many policemen, SSS operatives or soldiers that should be provided, how many cars should be in the motorcade, etc. but that is usually not true. For example, the president usually has no idea of the number of vehicles that will be in his motorcade, how many policemen will line the route or how long the road will be closed when he visits Lagos. These decisions are usually taken by the Lagos State commissioner of police, the deputy commissioner of police in charge of operations, the state director of the SSS and sometimes the commander of 9th Brigade. The president usually does not even know anything about the security arrangement that has been made. As we've seen earlier, there have been tragic consequences when the dignitary intervenes and tries to do the job of the security experts by telling them how many cars should be in the motorcade and what type of security measures to deploy. By the way, usually when a dignitary does this it's to reduce the level of security, not to increase it. Furthermore, the dignitary is not always successful when he tries to reduce the level of security or the level of disruption to the public. This is because no security officer wants his principal to die on his watch. The consequences of that (especially in Nigeria) are too grave. I'll give you an example. Governor Babatunde Fashola took office and decided that he was not going to use sirens or disobey traffic control measures at junctions. His motorcade usually waited for the traffic light to turn green or for traffic police to wave traffic on before going across junctions. I witnessed this myself at the Lekki Phase 1 Roundabout. I was about to cross the expressway (there was no pedestrian bridge at that time) and I felt that something was wrong, but I didn't know what it was until I got to the other side. I had crossed the expressway in front of the car that was in front of the governor's car. They were waiting patiently for the traffic warden to allow traffic to flow towards Victoria Island. There was no siren, no running policemen or any other attempt to force their way through the junction. If you ask Mr Fashola or most Lagosians they will tell you that the governor never used sirens. However, I know that's not totally true. I was at the Anthony Village stretch of Ikorodu Road when I saw a lone police motorcycle go past. It was blaring its siren and it went towards the entrance to the Apapa-Oworonshoki Expressway. It caught my attention because it was unusual to see a lone motorcycle blaring its siren. However, less than a minute later I saw the governor's motorcade drive past. Apparently the motorcycle outrider had riden ahead to the junction to clear the way for the motorcade. There's no way that the governor would have known what happened. The main motorcade did not use any sirens and the motorcycle outrider had riden far ahead of the motorcade to clear the junction. He was so far ahead that the governor, sitting in the middle of the motorcade, would not have heared his siren or known what he did. Another example of dignitaries futiley attempting to reduce the level of security occurs when they reject new armoured vehicles. For example, officials had planned that whoever won the 2015 presidential election would get a new Mercedes Maybach Guard (Guard in Mercedes Benz terminology indicates that the car is armoured). Muhammadu Buhari won the election and rejected the new car. He said that there was nothing wrong with the vehicles that President Jonathan used and that there was no need to spend so much money on a new car. https://www.nairaland.com/2440508/pres-buhari-rejects-proposal-buy Similarly, it has become the tradition in the US that every new president should get a new armoured limousine (which would make its debut on inauguration day) but President Trump rejected a new limousine because he felt that there was no need to spend money on a new one when there was nothing wrong with the limousine that Obama used. Why did I write that the attempts were futile? We'll see in the next section. 3 Likes 3 Shares |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by naptu2: 5:11am On Jan 04, 2021 |
New developments Once upon a time, when I was much younger, we assumed that terrorist acts could not happen in Nigeria. People said that Nigerians loved life too much to engage in suicide bomb attacks. Comedians even made jokes about it. We still thought it was funny when a Nigerian Airways plane was hijacked in 1993. CNN said that nobody had claimed responsibility and someone asked, "Which responsibility?" Such things were strange in Nigeria. People still thought that it was funny and strange when there was an alert about a possible terrorist attack in Lagos in 2003. Intelligence agencies had said that there was a plot to attack Israeli and US owned targets in Lagos. The US consulate was closed and security was beefed up around Mega Plaza (which is owned by an Israeli) and Eleke Crescent (which is the diplomatic zone in Lagos). There were Saxon armoured vehicles at both locations. Many people thought that it was a hoax because those type of things do not happen in Nigeria. Yet, in the past ten years, it has become common to hear about suicide bombings, kidnapping of school children, terrorist attacks on security facilities and other public infrastructure and attacks against motorcades of prominent government officials. In fact, former government officials that retired a long time ago have also been assassinated (eg. General Shuwa). These new threats have meant that new measures need to be taken to counter them. This includes the use of new types of vehicles that you won't have seen in Nigerian government motorcades 30 years ago. A good example is the radio car. The bomb attack on Governor Marwa's motorcade hit the last car in the convoy. Imagine if the bomb had exploded earlier at the exact time that the governor's car was passing by! It would have been a totally different story. Terrorists need a way to ensure that the bomb explodes at the exact time that the dignitary's car is passing by and one way of achieving this is to use a radio controlled bomb. This type of bomb can be triggered by a mobile phone, remote control, garage door opener and in short, any device that uses radio waves. The radio car is used to tackle this kind of threat. www.nairaland.com/attachments/12933077_secret_jpeg77f0f0ba98e6551fafb324ca6313fe90 A radio car is a vehicle (usually an armoured SUV) that jams radio waves across different frequencies, so that terrorists cannot detonate remote controlled bombs. The radio car is capable of allowing walkie-talkies to operate on designated frequencies, so that the bodyguards can talk to each other, while blocking out signals from unauthorised mobile phones, remote controls and other devices that can be used to trigger a remote controlled bomb. www.nairaland.com/attachments/12933079_radio_jpeg8bf8dc4634ef0b733d4761ea1a64c774 A radio car can also be used to disrupt the operations of certain guided weapons, such as an anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), which has become a favourite of terrorists. One of many videos of terrorists in Syria using an anti-tank guided missile to attack a convoy. This missile is designed to destroy heavily armoured main battle tanks and the terrorist can guide the missile to its target after it has been launched. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDhFENW1KtY General Pervez Musharaf was the president of Pakistan from 2001-2008. Pakistani intelligence and Al Qaeda and the Taliban had close relations before he came to office, but he decided to take action against the terrorists and they vowed to kill him. The terrorists repeatedly tried to bomb President Musharaf's motorcade, but the bombs exploded either just before or after his motorcade had passed. On one occassion they placed several remote controlled bombs under a bridge that Musharaf's motorcade was going to cross, but the bombs did not explode at that time because of the radio car. The bombs exploded after the motorcade had already passed. These incidents proved how important the radio car is. The first Nigerian president that I remember that had a radio car in his motorcade was President Olusegun Obasanjo and the first governor was Governor Babatunde Fashola. www.nairaland.com/attachments/12933078_radio2_jpegf086f3630ef67d3576fae09821d2f418 A radio car in a Nigerian presidential motorcade. Toyota Land Cruiser radio car https://mahindraarmored.com/armoured/suv/Armoured-Toyota-Land-Cruiser-electronics-jammers.asp#gsc.tab=0 United States Secret Service Chevrolet Suburban radio car https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USSS_Electronic_Countermeasures_Suburban 4 Likes 4 Shares |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by naptu2: 5:12am On Jan 04, 2021 |
Earlier I wrote that both President Buhari and President Tump made futile attempts to reject their new armoured vehicles when they assumed office. Why was it futile? Well, a year or two later they both had to accept the vehicles that they had previously rejected. The reason for this is simple. Terrorists are devising new ways to attack dignitaries every day and makers of armoured vehicles like Mercedes Benz Guard, BMW High Security, Audi Security and Range Rover Sentinel have to keep figuring out new ways to defeat the terrorists. For example, these vehicles' petrol tanks will not explode, even if you score a direct hit on them. That's because a flame retarding foam will be released to envelope the tank and prevent it from exploding. Most of these cars can fire smoke grenades, to make it difficult to see them and the driver gets visibility assistance to enable him see in a smoke filled environment. The cars can also withstand the impact of an RPG 7, which is designed to penetrate the armour of main battle tanks. A lot of armoured vehicles that are used by the police and military around the world have been rendered obsolete by the new tactics that are employed by terrorists. For example, the Humvee (US), Land Rover Wolf (UK), Saxon (UK) and Pinzgauer (Austria) have all been rendered obsolete by the mines and IEDs that are used by terrorists around the world (including Boko Haram). These IEDs are able to fire a second charge in order to penetrate armoured vehicles and the mines often blow of the floor of such vehicles and many soldiers have had their legs amputated for this reason. Many armed forces have had to develop Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles in order to deal with the threat. These kind of vehicles were initially developed by the South African military in the 1980s to deal with the guerrila tactics that were used by black liberation movements. Just as the military has had to adapt in order to deal with the new threat, so also have manufacturers of civilian armoured vehicles. These new armoured vehicles are better able to cope with a mine explosion underneath them. They are designed to withstand a direct hit from IEDs. It is for this reason that dignitaries have had to upgrade their vehicles, whether they like it or not. There are other new vehicles that were not part of most motorcades in the past, but are now part of motorcades. Motorcades of heads of state and governments and other leaders of government now contain ambulances so that the dignitary and other people in the motorcade can be given urgent emergency care if necessary. Some of those ambulances contain the dignitary's blood type, so that emergency blood transfusions can be conducted if necessary. The motorcades also usually contain a counter assault tactical team, to fight off attackers. 4 Likes 3 Shares |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by naptu2: 5:13am On Jan 04, 2021 |
Abuse Like I wrote earlier, dignitaries, particularly politicians and military rulers, prefer to have less security and a less obtrusive motorcade (because it makes them more popular and it makes the masses feel like they are one of them), but security officers, protocol officers and civil servants prefer to give full security to their principal because nobody wants their principal to die on their watch. Therefore, several dignitaries have developed methods to reduce the length of their motorcades and ensure that their security does not negatively affect the masses, while several security officers have abused the system and deployed security measures that have made life unbearable for the masses. For example, one of the problems that is often talked about is the length of the motorcade. We have seen instances where some dignitaries have had motorcades that have been over 100 cars long. The fact of the matter is that those motorcades are not normal or regular. They are usually caused by the fact that there is more than one dignitary in the motorcade and each dignitary is riding in his official car and has the full complement of his bodyguard. For example, Admiral Aikhigbe's motorcade at the NUGA Games in 1998 was insanely long because people were expecting General Abubakar and therefore lots of dignitaries attended the event to honour him. All the governors of all the South-West states were in the motorcade. Each governor was riding in his official car with his own personal escorts also in the motorcade. Governor Marwa, as the host governor, was riding with Admiral Akhigbe in the 6 door Mercedes Benz W124 stretch limousine, yet his own Land Cruiser official car, along with his personal escorts, were also in the motorcade. There were no ministers at that time, but the director-general of the National Sports Commission was also in the motorcade, along with officials from the Ministry of Sports. The director-general in the Ministry of Education was also in the motorcade, along with his officials. Each of these dignitaries was riding in his own official car. Just imagine how long that motorcade was! Governor Raji Rasaki solved this problem when he was in office (1988-1992). He noticed that he often had to attend multiple events a day with many of his commissioners and he realised that his motorcade would be too long if each of them went in his official car, therefore he began the practice of using Toyota Coaster buses when attending such events, so that he and his commissioners could be in the same vehice and there was therefore no need for extra vehicles in his motorcade. He donated those Coaster buses to the Lagos State Transport Corporation (LSTC) when he left office in December 1991/January 1992. Undortunately the LSTC, which had been the pride of Lagos in the 1970s and '80s, was killed by corruption in the 1990s. The Bola Tinubu Administration discovered that the Coaster buses that were donated by Rasaki were in good working order, but they had been listed as being beyond repair in the books of the corporation. LSTC officials had developed the habit of declaring that buses were beyond repair, even though they were in good order, so that they could sell the buses and pocket the profits. Now, remember what I told you that there is no difference between the civilian and the military administrations? Well, Governor Umar Ganduje of Kano has also developed the habit of using Toyota Coaster buses when he is moving around with lots of dignitaries. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo also does this when he visits Lagos with lots of dignitaries. Governor Ganduje takes Chief Bola Tinubu on a tour of Kano in a Toyota Coaster bus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-4yHsL_OBU Governor Ganduje takes Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State, Senator Rochas Okorocha and other dignitaries on a tour of Kano in a Toyota Coaster bus. https://mobile.twitter.com/dawisu/status/1337715292487774208 3 Likes 3 Shares |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by naptu2: 5:15am On Jan 04, 2021 |
One of the ways that the president can avoid disruptions, for example, in Lagos is to use a helicopter from Murtala Muhammed Airport in Ikeja to State House, Ribadu Road whenever he is going to the Island. Obasanjo, Shagari and Buhari used massive and noisy helicopters to fly to and from Dodan Barracks, so that their motorcades wouldn't disrupt traffic (the helicopters flew over my house). naptu2: However, President Babangida almost never used the helicopters (some said that he was scared that they would be shot down). The security measures that were put in place for President Babangida's motorcades were insane. The measures were normal at first. I remember that I was heading towards Falomo on this particular day and the police and soldiers had blocked off the other side of the road because the president was about to pass by. I got to the Ribadu Road Junction and it seemed like a taxi driver did not understand the instructions that he was given. He was about to drive into the security cordon, despite the fact that he had been told to go in the opposite direction. A soldier cocked his gun and luckily the traffic cleared on our side of the road, so we sped off. However, in later years, not only was the entire road blocked, but pedestrians were not allowed to cross the road. I'm serious. People on foot were not allowed to cross the road once the road closed vehicle had gone past. You had to wait (some times for up to an hour) for the main motorcade to pass by before you could cross. I remember a crazy cartoon in the papers at that time. It had two panels. The first panel showed the road closed motorcade (motorcycles, a Peugeot 504 and a Land Rover with the "Road closed" sign) with flashing lights and sirens blaring. The second panel showed President Babangida, still asleep at Dodan Barracks while people were stuck at road blocks waiting for him to pass. I also remember an incident that was not funny. A man sued the government because of the death of his daughter. He was rushing her to the hospital but the roads had been closed because President Babangida was going somewhere. He couldn't get her to the hospital on time due to the roadblocks and she died in the car. The most frustrating road closure for me, occurred during the Abacha era. I was going from the Island to the Mainland and I got to the foot of the Third Mainland Bridge and discovered that it had been closed because they were expecting Abacha to arrive for the graduation of the National War College later in the day. (The National War College was on Broad Street at that time). However, the road was reopened a few minutes later, despite the fact that no motorcade had passed. l later discovered that Abacha had arrived Lagos the night before without anyone knowing. He was received by the most senior officer at the Presidential Wing of the airport and then he secretly went to Dodan Barracks. Governor Marwa, the commander of the Lagos Garrison Command, the police commissioner and other dignitaries had gone to the airport to wait for him the next morning and the police had closed the roads, but they later got a signal that Abacha was already at Dodan Barracks. (This shows that Abacha did not order the road closures). 3 Likes 3 Shares |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by naptu2: 5:16am On Jan 04, 2021 |
There's another road closure that should have been the most frustrating, but I was experienced enough to avoid it. President Goodluck Jonathan stayed at Dodan Barracks whenever he was in Lagos at the beginning of his presidency, but he received the British prime minister, David Cameron, at State House, Marina in 2012 and he seemed to like the place, so he stayed there whenever he was in Lagos during the later stages of his presidency. President Jonathan came to Lagos a lot in the run up to the 2015 elections and one of his visits created absolute chaos in Lagos. The problem is that State House Marina is right beside the road (Cable Street) and this was one of the reasons that Gowon moved from there to Ribadu Road. A large expanse of land around State House, Ribadu Road was taken over to create State House Dodan Barracks, so it has a good security buffer that State House Marina does not have. This means that security agents often have to shut down the streets around State House Marina when the president is there. There was a day in February 2015 that I woke up and saw crazy status messages on my friends' BBM and Whatsapp profiles. People that worked on Broad Street and Marina were very angry. President Goodluck Jonathan was at State House and the police had blocked outer Marina, Marina Street, part of Broad Street and Tafawa Balewa Square. This is the historic business district of Lagos! Bankers and others in those skyscrapers were trying to get to work, but they couldn't. Some people abandoned their cars and walked long distances to get to work. This was around 7, 8 and 9am. A friend came to my house later that morning, picked me up and we went to the mainland. We were heading back to Lekki around 3pm when we came upon a massive and unusual traffic jam at the foot of Eko Bridge. We crawled all the way through Apongbon and while we were on the flyover that would take us to Marina, I saw two Nigerian Navy helicopters fly past. That's when I remembered that one of the things that President Jonathan came to Lagos to do was to commission four warships of the Nigerian Navy. A crazy thought entered my head. "It could be that the police had not opened the roads that they closed early that morning"! I brought out my mobile phone and checked out Twitter. I saw many angry tweets of people that were complaining that the police had shut down Marina for over 5 hours! Luckily Central Lagos was part of my regular commute in the1980s and I used that experience to get us out of the jam. I became the navigator. We crawled down to the Marina and I told my friend to turn in at Odunlami. We went through Odunlami, Igbosere Road, Moloney Street (we encountered a minor traffic jam at the Moloney Street Junction), over the Obalende flyover and down Ikoyi Road. We went down Bedwell Road (I didn't trust Ikoyi Club Road) and then we met another massive traffic jam on First Avenue. President Jonathan was commissioning the ships at the Naval Dockyard, Victoria Island and it seemed that the police had closed off Five Cowry Bridge, so the whole of Kingsway Road was at a standstill. We crawled to the Glover Road/Kingsway Road junction and then my friend made a mistake. He turned towards Victoria Island. I was deep in conversation and didn't direct him on time. I corrected him and we did a U-turn at the Ikoyi Club junction and headed back to Glover Road. The road was free from Glover Road, through Alexander Avenue, but then we met another traffic jam at the foot of the Lekki-Ikoyi Bridge. The people that were fleeing Five Cowrie Bridge had congregated at the Lekki-Ikoyi Bridge. However, the traffic was moving and we eventually made it back to Lekki. Lagos was in chaos that day. The traffic at First Avenue had stretched all the way back to Ikoyi Road by 5pm and my sister was stuck in it for hours. My friend's mum was also stuck in it. A lot of people attacked Goodluck Jonathan on social media, yet I was very sure that he did not know anything about the chaos that occurred in Lagos on that day. It was the fault of the security agencies. In conclusion, it is necessary that security is provided to these dignitaries and it is not the job of the dignitary to determine the level of security that will be provided. That's the job of the security agencies. Nigerian security agencies need to be trained to consider and respect the needs of the general populace while providing security for their principals. 5 Likes 3 Shares |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by naptu2: 5:17am On Jan 04, 2021 |
I wrote these posts back in 2012. naptu2: naptu2: 3 Likes 2 Shares |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by naptu2: 6:26am On Jan 04, 2021 |
Oops! I referred to the "consequences for security operatives if their principal is killed", but I didn't explain what the consequences are. As we all know, Nigeria is a society that thrives on rumours and weird stories, even when these rumours and stories are not based on facts. Therefore the first suspects when a dignitary is killed are his bodyguards and the people in charge of his security. They are presumed guilty until proven innocent. They might be tortured and suffer all kinds of problems before it is discovered that they are innocent. For example, the first people that were arrested when Chief Bola Ige was assassinated were his security details. Even when it is abundantly clear that the security official was not involved in the assassination, he could still suffer because the authorities might decide that he is incompetent and that the principal would not have been killed if he was competent. In fact, a security official that is completely exonerated by the authorities could still suffer in the court of public opinion. For example, there were 4 people in Murtala's limousine when he was killed. They were Murtala, his ADC (Lieutenant Akintunde Akinterinwa), his orderly (Staff Sergeant Michael Owutu) and his driver, Sergeant Adamu Michika. Staff Sergeabt Owutu was the only survivor. The coupists had killed the driver during the first attack and he fell on the orderly. General Murtala and Lieutenant Akinterinwa also survived the first attack. The coupists thought that they had succeeded and were walking to the radio station when Lieutenant Akinterinwa opened the door to return fire. His movement made the coupists realised that there were survivors and so they returned and killed Murtala and his ADC. They thought that the orderly was dead because he did not move and he was covered by the body of the dead driver. Sergeant Owutu spent time in hospital after the attack, but I remember that some crazy people spread a rumour that he knew about the attack before it happened. I heard the rumour when I was a kid. They said that he had been bribed to take part in the coup. They said that he refused to take part or accept the bribe, but that he did not inform Murtala. There is no truth to the rumour. 1 Like |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by naptu2: 7:04am On Jan 04, 2021 |
I keep remembering things that I forgot to include. It was difficult to be a judge in Italy in 1990. That's because the Mafia had killed so many of them, despite the security measures that were put in place by the government. You could discover that nobody wants to do an important job if they are not provided with the proper security measures. For example, nobody wanted to be chief of police at a particular Mexican town. That's because the drug cartels had killed all previous chiefs of police and several mayors. A 20 year old girl eventually volunteered to take the job (she had studied criminology in the university). However, she was later dismissed when she failed to show up for work. She and her family fled to the United States because of threats from the cartels. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marisol_Valles_García |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by debetmx(m): 5:18pm On Jan 04, 2021 |
1 Like |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by naptu2: 5:24pm On Jan 04, 2021 |
debetmx: Thank you. |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by Nobody: 10:17pm On Jan 04, 2021 |
naptu2:When Nigerian leaders turned the country to a failed state through massive corruption and sowing the seeds of ethnic and religious differences what did they expect the population of mostly unemployed youths who constitute 70% of the population to do? |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by Nobody: 10:41pm On Jan 04, 2021 |
naptu2:There are many Nigerian that are willing to offer themselves for public service with a two car convoy. I even read a comment from a South African who commented on of one the videos and said a Nigerian Governors convoy was longer than their President's convoy, And their annual budget is three times our own. |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by naptu2: 7:24am On Jan 05, 2021 |
 I wrote about dignitaries that were uncomfortable with the security arrangements around them and I forgot to write about the funniest example. Professor Gordian Ezekwe was a mechanical engineering lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University in the 1950s and '60s. He was one of the scientists that modified machines to produce weapons for Biafra during the Civil War (they modified tractors and bulldozers to produce tanks and they also made home made rockets which were called Ogbunigwe). He was also a professor at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka during and after the war. President Ibrahim Babangida made him the CEO of the Product Research and Design Organisation (PRODA) in the 1980s. PRODA made what they called "The first made in Nigeria car" at that time. Then, in the 1990s, either General Babangida or General Abacha made him the minister of science and technology. I had a friend who was a lecturer and he also knew Professor Ezekwe. We were discussing (much later in the 1990s, after Professor Ezekwe had left his ministerial position) and my friend was angry. He said that the government should have set up a workshop for Professor Ezekwe to produce things, but instead of doing that, they made him a minister (an administrative position). He said that Professor Ezekwe was always fighting with his police ADC over who would open the car door. He wasn't used to such things and he had always opened his car door by himself. 2 Likes |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by Nobody: 7:55pm On Jan 05, 2021 |
Ondo state Governor wasting scarce resources giving Deputy Speaker of State House of Assembly: 2020 Toyota Landcruiser Prado 2020 Toyota Hilux
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| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by Nobody: 8:27pm On Jan 05, 2021 |
naptu2:Nigerian needs to cut it's coat according to his size this luxuries of expensive convoys,first class travel,hotel presidential suites and medical treatment abroad will bankrupt the failed state. |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by Nobody: 12:05am On Jan 14, 2021 |
Uchek:  |
| Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by Nobody: 7:40pm On Mar 14, 2021 |
Mongamy numbee one government defender. I know you will defend this as well clown! |
When it would make more sense to block the road at the exit so that motorists can use alternative routes.(1) (2) (3) ... (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (Reply)
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