As we enter the Yuletide season marked by thanksgiving and stepped-up travel and leisure activities, with just 10 days to Christmas, we are reminded of the need to maintain safety and security on our roads.
Two recent incidents jog the memory and call to mind the poor state of security on our roads in years past, marked by frequent reports of armed robberies, kidnappings for ransom, and other vices.
One is the armed robbery attack on players and officials of Nigeria National League (NNL) side, FC One Rocket, at Ihiala, Anambra State, on Monday, December 4. The contingent was returning from Lagos, where they had honoured a league engagement against Ikorodu United. Some members of the team were robbed of their mobile phones. According to a statement by the club, no life was lost during the incident.
Again, on Thursday, December 7, some unknown gunmen attacked the Sunshine Stars Football Club of Akure along the Benin-Ore Expressway. It was gathered that the hoodlums shot at the bus conveying the team to Benin City, the Edo State capital, where they were going to honour the Match Day 13 fixture of the Nigeria Premier Football League against Bendel Insurance FC of Benin. It was learnt that a ball boy suffered gunshot wounds in the attack, while team manager, Mr. Seun Betiku, was also injured. The Media Officer of the team, Mr. Michael Akintunde, confirmed the incident, in a statement.
NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said the Federation was disturbed by the trend.
“The NFF is seriously disturbed and disillusioned by this unwarranted trend. First, it was FC One Rocket of Abat, Akwa Ibom State that was attacked. Their players and officials lost a variety of valuables in the attack in Ihiala, Anambra State while on their way from an NNL match against Ikorodu City in Lagos,” Sanusi said.
“Only on Thursday, 7th December, 2023, players and officials of Sunshine Stars of Akure were attacked on the Ore-Benin Road by armed robbers, with the ball boy shot,” he said.
Further to his generosity and kindness towards the attacked Sunshine Stars team, Edo State governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, directed that a security escort be attached to the Owena Waves team when they left Benin City for Akure.
These events are a sad reminder of the past. Over the past few years, the quality of security put into effect on the Lagos-Benin Road and all the way to the eastern link-up to the Niger Bridge and beyond and, indeed, on other points on that axis by gallant officers of the Nigerian Police Force and the Nigerian Army, marshalled by their leadership, has been most commendable, with crime and other untoward incidents reduced to the barest minimum.
The security network is manifest by armed checkpoints every few kilometres of the way, along with intermittent patrols.
While some commuters have complained of the little delays that this outlay can cause, the primary objective has been largely accomplished and Nigerians and have plied those routes mostly without let, anxiety or hindrance. Kudos again to our security forces.
However, as is often said, the reward for good work is more good work. We must not let down our guard, especially in this festive season, as Nigerians try to eke out a little fun in the sun, even on the backdrop of a depressed economy.
We call on the echelon in the national security framework to redouble their efforts and marshal their forces to action, as has been done to good effect in the past, to blot out the challenge of insecurity, including kidnapping, armed robbery, herdsmen attacks and other acts of criminality on our roads.
Nigerians appreciate your absence from the comfort of your homes, your sojourn to far-flung places and the sundry discomforts and risks you run so that we might have security and peace. We stand firmly behind you.
