Lagos – An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was discovered at the fence of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A of the Nigeria Customs Service on Bank Anthony way, Ikeja, Lagos State on Wednesday.
The object was discovered on the eve of the planned nationwide protest against hardship and hunger in Nigeria.
Organisers said the protest would start from August 1 to and end 10 August 10, 2024.
The IED was allegedly dropped by a yet to identified person who drove to the spot in a car and zoomed off immediately after the action.
It was also gathered that the suspects was first sighted by a police officer attached to the Explosive Ordinance Depot (EOD) Base in Ikeja, the state capital.
A police source told local newspaper, Daily Trust that the officer saw a man in an unregistered Toyota Corolla car parked close to the entrance of the PMF 23 barracks along Mobolaji Bank Anthony way, Ikeja.
Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Adegoke Fayoade, also confirmed the incident.
Spokesman for the state police command, Benjamin Hundeyin, said the officer who sighted the suspect is attached to the Police Explosives Ordinance Depot (EOD) base in Ikeja.
He said the suspect parked his unregistered Toyota Corolla car on the main road, close to the gate of PMF 23 barracks.
“The officer sighted a young man alighted from the car and carefully dropped a bag by the side of FOU Zone A fence. The young man returned to his car and zoomed off.
“Based on the report a team of the report, a team of EOD-CBRN experts from the base quickly mobilized to the scene to identify the object.
“On arrival it was confirmed that truly the item is IED. Subsequently, the area was cordoned off and the IED Rendered safe and thereafter detonated accordingly. Meanwhile the residual of the IED was collected for further analysis and investigation” Daily Trust quoted the police as saying.
Reacting to this, human rights activist Omoyele Sowore, wrote on X: “BREAKINGBADGOVT: The @PoliceNG in Lagos planted an IED-like device beside a police station and are about to claim it was planted by “foreign mercenaries” in an attempt to blackmail protesters. DON’T FALL FOR THIS LATEST PROPAGANDA. Recall that the IGP mentioned at his Zoom meeting yesterday that they can’t be sure is suicide bombers would join protesters.
#NOGOINGBACK #EndBadGovernance #DaysOfRage”
Recall that after a leaked memo revealed that Kayode Egbetokun ordered police operatives to stop protest from happening, the Nigerian police chief claimed that intelligence at the disposal of the Force revealed that foreign mercenaries are involved in the planned nationwide protest.
Nigeria is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, with skyrocketing inflation, a national currency in free-fall and millions of people struggling to buy food. Only two years ago Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria is projected to drop to fourth place this year.
The pain is widespread. Unions strike to protest salaries of around $20 a month. People die in stampedes, desperate for free sacks of rice. Hospitals are overrun with women wracked by spasms from calcium deficiencies.
Although President Bola Tinubu increased the minimum wage — after strike action and months-long negotiations with labour unions — from N30,000 to N70,000, his government has increased spending for officials at a time of nationwide starvation.
For workers earning the new N70,000, or $43, per month minimum wage, capricious inflation and naira value have inflicted too much damage for the changes to make any difference in their lives.
The crisis is largely believed to be rooted in two major changes implemented by Mr Tinubu, elected 14 months ago: the partial removal of fuel subsidies and the floating of the currency, which together have caused major price rises.
A nation of entrepreneurs, Nigeria’s more than 200 million citizens are skilled at managing in tough circumstances, without the services states usually provide. They generate their own electricity and source their own water. They take up arms and defend their communities when the armed forces cannot. They negotiate with armed kidnappers when family members are abducted.
But right now, their resourcefulness is being stretched to the limit.
Some folks are planning protests to voice their concerns about the economic situation, including rising inflation and poverty, under President Tinubu’s administration.
The protests are expected to happen in the north and other parts of the country, but residents and leaders of the south-eastern region, inhabited by the Igbo ethnic group – have made it clear that they are not going to be part of the mass action.
The planned protests have already ignited debates on social media between Mr Tinubu’s supporters — who had previously advocated for similar protests under former president Goodluck Jonathan in 2012 — and next month’s would-be demonstrators.
Mr Tinubu’s government warned that a breakdown of law would not be tolerated, while Nigerians were furious that the same individuals who, in 2012, organised demonstrations against Mr Jonathan’s government for terminating fuel subsidies are now aggressively opposing the same cause under a different leader.
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