Scores of them woke up early that Sunday morning full of life. The Christian faithful among them even woke up earlier. They were enthusiastic of the breaking of the day.
They had their focus on just one thing: To go to the House of the Lord and worship the Creator with thanksgiving and supplication. What a way to begin a new week.
But that never came to pass. A few hours later, all that turned upside down. And everything came to naught. All their hopes and aspirations came to complete ruins.
Yes. That turned out to be the fate of the many victims of the Lagos explosion last Sunday. By 8:30am or thereabouts, some of these people were still at home. Some on their hurried way to church. Others were already in church before they were caught up in the inferno.
Many others merely ran into it in great panic, desperation and anxiety on the streets of Abule-Ado, a distant suburb of the Lagos metropolis. That was the exact time Armageddon chose to visit Lagos. And it did hit with ultimate precision.
Such visits are very rare. They scarcely come that often. But Lagos was very unlucky to host one of such visits. And the unwanted guest was Armageddon itself.
Wikipedia puts it succinctly: “According to the Book of Revelations in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, Armageddon is the prophesied location of a gathering of armies for a battle during the end times, variously interpreted as either a literal or a symbolic location. The term is also used in a generic sense to refer to any end of the world scenario.”
Lagos came near the latter part of that description that Sunday morning. It was a day like never before. Armageddon came, saw and conquered.
It was a deafening explosion. That was between 8:30am and 9am. The sound reverberated in the surrounding areas. It threw residents of FESTAC Town, Satellite Town, Amuwo-Odofin, Oke-Afa, Agege, Iyana Ipaja, Igando and Okota into a state of panic.
Many buildings had their roofs and windows blown off in FESTAC and Amuwo-Odofin. And when the dust settled in the main theatre, Abule-Ado, it was like a graphic scene in the war-torn Syria.
Actually, it painted a sordid picture of a war situation. The epicentre of the explosion was the Bethlehem Girls’ College. It also lost its administrator, Rev. Sister Henrietta Alokha.
Scores of others were killed, including students, and still counting. Over 500 houses, 100 shops went up in flames. Many more sustained various degrees of injuries. Some are still in hospital. We are still at a loss over what could have caused the devastation. Various theories were carelessly thrown up.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) tried hard to explain the incident away. Its public affairs manager, Kennie Obateru, said preliminary findings indicated that the explosion “happened when a truck hit gas cylinders around the corporation’s pipeline right of way.”
But a resident disagreed. She saw it differently. She told Daily Sun: “According to the security personnel who were guiding the pipeline, the thing came like a rocket and hit the pipeline and the next thing was that smoke starting billowing into the sky, forming thick smoke before the deafening sound.”
That is the pathetic stage where we are now. The truth is still to be told. We are being put in a state of secrecy. All the authorities concerned feel extremely comfortable in keeping us permanently in the dark. Our suspicion is being heightened on a daily basis. And it is heading in a dangerous direction.
This is our genuine fear: There is the dreaded and dreadful possibility of conspiracy of silence; a sort of code of silence. That is what is building up.
We would heartily love to be proved wrong.
Sanusi: A walk through dethronement
Lest we forget, it is amazing and amusing how the judiciary worked with the speed of light last week. Former Emir of Kano, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, was the case study. He has continued to dominate our space since his deposition some two weeks now.
But the judiciary showcased the hard stuff it is made of when Sanusi challenged his banishment first to Loko, then to Awe, in Nasarawa State. The swiftness and fastness the judiciary displayed was something else.
Nothing was so apt like what one Shola Salako posted on the social media. He wrote, unedited:
“So, Sanusi Lamido’s lawyers filed the application for the enforcement of his fundamental human rights two days ago. The Chief Judge received the application and assigned it to a judge the same day.
“The court sat immediately and the application was heard and granted the same day. The court order was enrolled and served the same day.
“The court order was also enforced the same day, with Sanusi seen released from exile instantly. All of these happened within 30 hours. Any practising lawyer in Nigeria will tell you that this is a poorly written script.
“From the dethronement, to the banishment, to the court order and the release from exile, everything was stage-managed and totally qualifies as hilarious nonsense and ingredients!”
Coronavirus: How are the mighty fallen
Equally interesting is this yet another post, circulated by one Allah Wahid. It is his own contribution on coronavirus nicknamed COVID-19 by its sponsors. This is a humorous delight:
“God allowed the devil to send just one virus out of zillions in his possession and the so-called superpowers who have stockpiled countless thermonuclear weapons to intimidate and control the world are scampering in panic for dear life.
“None: The USA, Russia or China has been able to deploy any of their so-called weapons against the coronavirus. None has been able to go out and confront the virus head-on in the battlefield.
“Rather, they shut down their borders and markets and schools and sports arenas in dread of the tiny, invisible coronavirus, which is conquering the world and putting all the so-called mighty nations, G7, G20, NATO, EU, UN Security Council to shame right within their own boundaries before their own people.
“Their empty arrogance against God, their futile attempts to claim authority over the earth have been exposed by just one virus attack.
“Let them quickly remove their satanic weapons, which have been rendered useless in the face of just one virus. The huge resources they wasted on these weapons could be better deployed to serve God and take care of the ravaging poverty and hunger around the world.
“We all must now see clearly that when we provoke God, no nation on earth can defend the world from the consequences. Let us turn to God who alone is our defence and protection from all evil. And we shall find peace in our souls.