Saturday 15th of March
2014 will go down in the history book of Nigeria as a BLACK SATURDAY. It
was a day that started with much hope, especially for the hundreds of
thousand unemployed graduates who trooped out to different locations
across the country to write the sham called Nigerian Immigration Service
(NIS) Recruitment Test; a day many would wish they had fallen ill, got
drunk, slept off or bedridden to prevent the stress and pain they
suffered in the name of writing the assessment test arranged Interior
Minister, Abba Moro and co.
On that
fateful day, Nigeria lost four (4) pregnant women to the shameful and
incomprehensible act of the Ministry as well as the nation's Immigration
Service. The deceased could actually be counted as eight (8) because
they died with their unborn babies. Possibly, one or two were carrying
twins or triplets. What a colossal loss!
According
to reports, several applicants collapsed due to pandemonium, excessive
heat and suffocation. For our stadia, they looked as though a major
sporting event was ongoing. At the end of the day, eighteen (18) people
were confirmed dead. Has anyone thought about the fact that this figure
could be linked to the date itself - '15/03' (15+3)?
It is
disheartening that future leaders were once again wasted as a result of
greed and incompetence of one man, Abba Moro. Despite stating earlier
that the test was to be written by 520,000 applicants for available
4,500 job slots, more were shortlisted to sit. Eventually, nearly
1million desperate job seekers rushed to the venues. It is pertinent to
note that each candidate paid N1,000 to apply, thus, about N1billion was
generated from poor citizens.
As expected
of any responsible public servant, we thought the 'Honourable' Minister
would have come out to apologize to Nigerians and mourn the departed
souls. Rather, Abba, whose name sounds like noise, chose to tongue lash,
he blamed them for their untimely journey to six-feet below.
In his words: "The applicants lost their lives due
to impatience; they did not follow the laid down procedures spelt out to
them before the exercise. Many of them jumped through the fences of
affected centres and did not conduct themselves in an orderly manner to
make the exercise a smooth one. This caused stampede and made the
environment unsecured" HABA MORON!!!
This is a man accused of gun-running and smuggling
of arms in 2012 by a civil society organisation, National Anti-Terrorism
and Peace Network (NATPW). The group stated that it received the
intelligence from an unnamed source in the secret service. It further
expressed shock that a man with dubious morality and questionable
character could be appointed into any sensitive position in the country.
Again, Abba Moro was accused by the same group of
moving about with a short service pistol without permission or
presidential directive to bear arms, while serving as Chairman of
Okpokwu Local Government Area, Benue State, between 1999 and 2007. He
was subsequently arraigned before a court of law.
To make matter worse, such a man with no compassion
for human lives is seeking to become Governor of his State in 2015. His
benefactor, Senator David Mark, is reportedly planning to ensure the
position is zoned to the Idomas.
In
countries where things are done properly, by now, the minister should
have resigned or sacked immediately. Since none of these has happened,
we make the demand: Abba Moro and other officials responsible for
shabby organisation that caused the stampede and needless deaths that
accompanied it, must leave office now!
Ayobami Ladipo
Twitter: @ayobamiladipo
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