Abule Egba: A tragedy foretold
By Reuben Abati

THE death of close to 700 persons in Abule Egba, in the heart of the city of Lagos, persons who were hustling for fuel from a vandalised petroleum pipeline on Boxing Day, December 26, was a tragedy foretold; a veritable comment on the anomie that has overtaken the land. It is a comment as well on the failure of the state, and the ineffectuality of its organs and agencies.

The World Bank has described the quality of life in Nigeria as one of the lowest in the world. President Olusegun Obasanjo also once dismissed Lagos as a jungle-city. The tragedy at Abule-Egba confirms the truthfulness of both declarations, except that in Obasanjo's case, he should not just be sad, as we have been told he is, he should cover his face in shame. His government is to be held responsible for the death of those hundreds of persons and the destruction of properties, and the imposition on an entire section of the city of an environmental crisis.

No other government in Nigerian history has presided over as many tragedies as the Obasanjo government has done in the last eight years. When the statistics are collated, it would be found that more persons have died under the President's watch, from plane crashes, bomb explosions, road accidents, armed robbery attacks, religious and political violence and assassinations, and the sad statistics would paint a picture worse than that of the Nigerian civil war. In one morning with Nigeria not at war, not under attack from enemy forces, about 700 persons simply died on account of an explosion which was caused not by nature, not by accident but through a wilful, collective act of suicide. In terms of its suddenness and senselessness, the tragedy at Abule Egba is/was worse than the Tsunami in South East Asia and worse than Hurricane Katrina and 9/11 in the United States.

The human dimensions of the story are horrendous. The setting for it was the fuel scarcity that ravaged the country a few days to the Christmas season. Both the NNPC and the Federal Government insisted that the scarcity was artificial, the handiwork of speculators and buccaneers who had chosen to hoard fuel because they thought a fuel price increase would be announced in Budget 2007. Despite government's protestations that a fuel price increase was not afoot (the Nigerian people stopped trusting government a long time ago), fuel marketers refused to lift fuel from the depots across the country; the fuel stations were empty.

In the few places where fuel was sold, the queues were long, winding and unending; on the streets of Nigeria, on the highways and elsewhere, a micro-enterprise in fuel racketeering promptly emerged with young men and women selling petrol at black market rates. A 25-litre jerry can of fuel was sold for as much as N5,000 and there were more than enough people who were willing to buy, even if the black market rate was 400 per cent higher than the usual cost of petrol per litre. Fuel had become gold. As in the Abacha era, the gift of a keg of petrol at Christmas had become a precious Christmas gift!

And thus in the midst of this scarcity, and the untold hardship that it had brought to families, industry and the entire society, the people of the Awori area in Abule Egba, a fully built up part of Lagos, discovered that an NNPC pipeline passing through the area, had begun to leak fuel - fresh petrol - the same petrol that was not available in the petrol stations, the same petrol that could fetch as much as N200 per litre at black market rate. The leakage could have been due to vandalisation (which is common), or an accident (which is not unlikely because the pipelines are old, and rusty and never maintained), and as a river of petrol formed at the source of the leakage, Lagosians went to the site with buckets, pans, jerry cans, any container of any shape.

The age of the fuel scavengers ranged from five to 60, including women with babies strapped to their back. Four petrol tankers were said to have gone to the site to scoop fuel overnight - which confirmed that this was not an accident after all, but a case of economic sabotage and pipeline vandalisation. Everyone knew that a tragedy was waiting to happen. Landlords in the area reported the development to both NNPC and the state authorities. NNPC officials went there, and went away. Policemen were drafted to the site. The fuel scavengers stoned the police, and chased them away.

A television crew from AIT covered the tragedy that was being scripted and reported the fuel theft live, with the footnote that a tragedy could occur and that everyone, including government, should try to stop the madness on Segun Akinola street, Abule Egba. The fuel scavengers laughed at the television cameras. They described the free fuel that they were stealing as their own "Christmas bonus." One of the fuel thieves remarked that "at last, he had received his own share of the national cake". The police unable to make any difference became counsellors, as they implored the people not to use metal objects, but plastic containers to scoop fuel. Owners of mobile phone sets were advised to switch them off. One Pastor went to the site and tried to advise the fuel thieves. He was told to shut up. The Chairman of the Local Government Council also tried to dissuade the people. He was booed and chased away. The atmosphere must have been carnival-esque.

And then, suddenly, there was an explosion. Human bodies became balls of flame. Many of the bodies were so badly burnt, they had become mere ashes. We should ask: What is it that makes life so meaningless to Nigerians? What is responsible for this growing love of death and suicide in our land? Why do ordinary Nigerians confront death, knowing that it is final and irreversible, with such reckless equanimity? The tragedy at Abule Egba had been foreseen. It was a re-enactment of Jesse in Delta State where over a thousand lives were lost in a replica incident. It was a replay, also of the tragedy at Ilado village, also in Lagos where hundreds perished.

The photographs of charred bodies in the newspapers were hauntingly familiar and real. Knowing the full consequence of the burlesque in what had become an auditorium of death to be certain, one of the fuel scavengers had declared: "If we don't scoop fuel from here, hunger will kill us. If we die from explosion here, it is still death out of want. We might as well stay here, scoop, and hope to survive". You know the rest of the story already: They didn't survive. They died. It is the nihilism of it all that underscores the uselessness of the Nigerian situation.

Life, here is an ordeal. As Christmas approached, there was no power supply in many parts of the country. No water either. Armed robbers had taken over the land. There was no governance too. The Presidency was busy trying to punish the Vice President Atiku Abubakar; the President wanted to teach him a bitter lesson about power; in the process, President Obasanjo turned himself into the state and the law. The police were busy running away from armed robbers. The average Nigerian was faced with only one option: self-help. The Inspector-General of Police, Sunday Ehindero visited Abule Egba; and his only contribution was that the residents of Akinola street were unpatriotic!

But is this about patriotism? What could anybody have done about people who no longer feared death? The Inspector-General does not understand. Nigeria is so badly organised today, such that if a pipeline were to start leaking tomorrow, a hundred metres away from the scene of the present tragedy, Nigerians will still troop out en masse to scoop fuel. "Something must kill man," is the motor park aphorism which guides human attitudes in Nigeria. We are a nation of reckless risk-takers and gamblers, a society of nihilists. Indeed, in Ibadan, even as the dead at Abule Egba are being counted, fuel thieves are scooping fuel from a burst pipeline somewhere in the city, and obviously, they too "hope to survive".

Where was the state when the tragedy in Abule Egba occurred? Fire-fighters were overwhelmed. The Fire Department had neither water, nor equipment. Even the Landlords' Association had to donate two tanker-loads of water! By the time Julius Berger joined the rescue effort, the tragedy was near-complete. The only part of the emergency situation that was handled with some detailed efficiency was the evacuation, and mass burial of the remains of the dead. The Nigerian state may not know how to protect, and preserve life, but it operates with award-winning efficiency when it is required to dig graves and bury the remains of its victims. It is not enough for President Obasanjo to issue a statement to tell us how sad he is; let him visit Abule Egba, and witness the cost of failed governance.

It is now time to worry afresh about the danger that is posed by the presence of petroleum pipelines in residential neighbourhoods. We do not need a soothsayer to confirm the fact that petroleum pipelines are dangerous, inflammable infrastructures. Ordinarily, they are set apart from residential areas, with signboards alerting all and sundry to the danger that they represent. When these pipelines were laid, they were on the outskirts of the city. Over the years, houses have been built either around or on top of the pipelines. The danger signs have since been removed; even the NNPC stopped monitoring its own pipelines. As it is with petroleum pipelines, so it is with high tension electricity cables underneath and around which houses have since been built. The negligence is collective, the preparation for the suicide is communal, because we all tend to look the other way, we protest and mourn only when a tragedy occurs such as in Abule Egba and before now, in Jesse, Egborode, Ogwo, Adeje, Okuedjeba, Atlas Cove and Ilado but as soon as crocodile tears are shed and our tear ducts dry up, we move on, both government and the people and we do so hypocritically. The fuel supply system in the country must be reviewed; the network of pipelines must be located away from residential areas, and the people need to be educated on how best to love life without sacrificing it.

The truth is that something is wrong with us: the debilitating poverty in the land; the failure of the state, the absence of leadership, the greed, the desperation, the frustrations of the average Nigerian. We must now take special notice of the fact that immediately after the tragedy in Abule Egba, the fuel stations in Lagos began to sell fuel; tankers started lifting fuel again, the queues began to disappear... Must so many lives be wasted before the cries of the people can be heard?

Robot  # 1 | 28.12.2006 23:10

THE death of close to 700 persons in Abule Egba, in the heart of the city of Lag...Read the full article.

Auspicious  # 2 | 29.12.2006 02:18

Highlights - for your musing.. Auspicious. *No other government in Nigerian history has presided over as many tragedies as the Obasanjo government has done in the last eight years. When the statistics are collated, it would be found that more persons have died under the President's watch, from plane crashes, bomb explosions, road accidents, armed robbery attacks, religious and political violence and assassinations, and the sad statistics would paint a picture worse than that of the Nigerian civil war. In one morning with Nigeria not at war, not under attack from enemy forces, about 700 persons simply died on account of an explosion which was caused not by nature, not by accident but through a wilful, collective act of suicide. In terms of its suddenness and senselessness, the tragedy at Abule Egba is/was worse than the Tsunami in South East Asia and worse than Hurricane Katrina and 9/11 in the United States. *The setting for it was the fuel scarcity that ravaged the country a few days to the Christmas season. *We should ask: What is it that makes life so meaningless to Nigerians? What is responsible for this growing love of death and suicide in our land? Why do ordinary Nigerians confront death, knowing that it is final and irreversible, with such reckless equanimity? *"...one of the fuel scavengers had declared: "If we don't scoop fuel from here, hunger will kill us. If we die from explosion here, it is still death out of want. We might as well stay here, scoop, and hope to survive". *The Inspector-General of Police, Sunday Ehindero visited Abule Egba; and his only contribution was that the residents of Akinola street were unpatriotic! *"Something must kill man," is the motor park aphorism which guides human attitudes in Nigeria. *The only part of the emergency situation that was handled with some detailed efficiency was the evacuation, and mass burial of the remains of the dead. The Nigerian state may not know how to protect, and preserve life, but it operates with award-winning efficiency when it is required to dig graves and bury the remains of its victims. *We must now take special notice of the fact that immediately after the tragedy in Abule Egba, the fuel stations in Lagos began to sell fuel; tankers started lifting fuel again, the queues began to disappear... Must so many lives be wasted before the cries of the people can be heard?

Sincere Brillow  # 3 | 29.12.2006 03:51

Another brillant & thought provoking piece from the stables of Dr Reuben Abati. Having said all, we should take time and examine the question of life posed by Dr Abati. 1.We should ask: What is it that makes life so meaningless to Nigerians? 2.What is responsible for this growing love of death and suicide in our land? 3.Why do ordinary Nigerians confront death, knowing that it is final and irreversible, with such reckless equanimity? I doubt if there is any one on earth who can provide an answer to these questions Oro kpesi je Yours Sincerely, brillowboy 234-8060193633

Dapxin  # 4 | 29.12.2006 04:00

The Abule Egba disaster - another sad reminder of that which has come to be known with our geography and existence as Nigerians... It is amazing how we fail in practically every facet of our lives - aviation, democracy, education, security...goodness! Everything ! And even football that used to be our saving grace, our performance graph has taken to the downfall.... planes will drop, buildings will fall, fire will raze,thieves go kill, and cars will tumble, what not will not happen in Nigeria ? Probably nothing! And what do we get, sickly looking politicians - the likes of Obasanjo - passing rhetorical statements of sympathy when it is clearly apparent that they 've got used to the 'murder' of a nation that ours truly is....The worst feeling I get right now still is that, even after this, we will still experience another one, and another one, of tragedies! This country nawa o !

denker  # 5 | 29.12.2006 06:46

What is it that makes life so meaningless to Nigerians? What is responsible for this growing love of death and suicide in our land? Why do ordinary Nigerians confront death, knowing that it is final and irreversible, with such reckless equanimity? Abati non execution/absence of JUSTICE inevitably is manifestation of DEAD of LOVE. LOVE is LIFE. Is LOVE dead, there's no LIFE. Nigeria has become a Soulless Society. In absence of LOVE, God is dead - Nigeria-statehood has murdered God. God is Dead in Nigeria! Salvation is only possible in its(Nigeria) total Dissolution and the Restoration of the original God's Plan - HOMOGENEITY! The name 'Nigeria' must be erased/deleted/wiped out/off from the surface of Mother-Earth. That's my beloved sisters/brothers the only Solution!

akuluouno  # 6 | 29.12.2006 08:11

It was the great Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, one of the eminient 60 persons in thsi Universe who sang in his classical album "Unknown Soldier" inter alia, "If na unknown Soldiers (US), we get U police, we get U Civilians, If na US, we get U citizens, all is equal to U government". This great man in his other lyrics such as ITT, even Lady and Yellow Fever, captured both copiously and vividly the tragedy that is unfolding on a global scale called Nigeria. Now villagers, the solution squarely rests on the leadership at all levels from Abule Egba to Aso Rock. I say this without prejudice to a book (palmphlet) by Achebe titled " The problem with Nigeria " which has already dealt with the problem of leadership in Nigeria in his usual globally accalimed style. Having said that, we can now start searching for answers to the queries raised by Dr Abati most of which can be turned around and recast as "How the Nigerian Leadership has reduced her citizens as mere denizens in the Jungle of Anarchy". In normal climes, leaders would always remind their citizens that the buck stops on the formers desk. In Nigeria the buck only stops on the leadership's desk when official properties and air crafts are about to be seized or when the Igbos and Ijaws are to be schemed out of occupying Aso Rock for better or for Worse, or if an oil well were discovered in Abule Egba. When over 200 souls perish, no responsibility is apportioned yet mandarins and their paraphnelia parade all over the place doing nothing but perpetuating perfidy and poverty on the populace. Life indeed is brutish, nasty and short in that space. Nobody should lay any blame on the innocent fuel scoopers. On what income do you want them to buy this God-given resource at N250 a litre. Better to die, roasted, standing, and struggling to survive in that country than to live in severe penury on ones knees. Abule Egba is indeed a metaphor of the fire which the masses of Nigeria face daily in their struggle to put a plate of amala (001) on the table for their family. Their blood like those of others before them has already found a place to settle in the hands of all those responsible for their deaths and their descendants up to their fourth generation. Say a loud Amen. :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

villageHeadMaster  # 7 | 29.12.2006 10:27

=ithinkbetter;146186>The name 'Nigeria' must be erased/deleted/wiped out/off from the surface of Mother-Earth. That's my beloved sisters/brothers the only Solution! ithinkbetter, I agree with you completely on this one. In marketing, when a product fails, it is removed from circulation and decommissioned or re-branded (for example Coca cola's Dasani bottled ...and it was decommissioned in the UK). The name Nigeria is now synonymous with every negative you can (and cannot) imagine: child labour/abuse, prostitution, corruption/fraud, armed and unarmed robbery, natural and unnatural disasters, kidnappings, frequent plane crashes, political thuggery/rigging; you name it, if it is negative, it has probably happened in Nigeria. Without any doubt the brand name Nigeria has failed. It should be decommissioned and its entity re-branded. One may wish to argue that a mere name change won’t solve our problems and cite examples of African countries (such as Zaire changing its name to Congo) where name changes have resulted in decayed countries looking and smelling just as rotten as they were before the name change. But permit me to quote Juliet: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet." in Shakespeare’s lyrical tale of "star-cross'd" lovers Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2) in which Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet meet and fall in love. They are doomed from the start as members of two warring families. Here Juliet tells Romeo that a name is an artificial and meaningless convention, and that she loves the person who is called "Montague", not the Montague name and not the Montague family. Romeo, out of his passion for Juliet, rejects his family name and vows, as Juliet asks, to "deny (his) father" and instead be "new baptized" as Juliet's lover. This one short line encapsulates the central struggle and tragedy of the play. Similarly, the name change that is required for Nigeria goes beyond just a change in an artificial and meaningless convention to the total rejection of the present status-quo. We need to rethink our forced existence as a nation; a complex nation made of so many warring “families”; a nation where the Muslims and Christians call themselves brothers but will not hesitate to slaughter each other in an instance; a nation where the Yorubas can’t stand the Ibos and the Hausas can’t stand the Yorubas and the Ibos can stand both of them (even in forums designed to enable them share ideas for progress. They choose instead to display their ugly hatred in the full glare of the world). Personally, I feel we (Nigeria) shouldn't be talking of "democratic" elections come 2007 but a referendum to decide whether we really do want to co-exist together as a nation and the banner or identity we want attributed to us. Democracy can only exist in a nation with a defined raison d’etre; something, we are yet to define for ourselves.

Goddy  # 8 | 29.12.2006 10:31

One Raymond Tarek Belleh wrote among other things in a different article on this site that: ".....Nigeria is full of contradictions. I have never seen a more intelligent group of people create their own misfortunes, fuel their own fires and dig their own graves. The average Nigerian thinks he's smarter than everyone else. We are smart alright but collectively we create the most stupid and unimaginable calamities. In a nutshell we are too smart for our own good. Too greedy to know when we are satisfied. Too arrogant to accept the flaws that exists. Too conceited and power conscious to allow those who can do a better job to go ahead and do so...." And to this guy (Raymond), I say God bless you! At last, someone is saying the right thing. While we sympathise with the dead and those who lost properties, we also must be fair enough to lay the blame for the tragedy where it belongs----at the doorsteps of the greedy, the thieves and the criminals among our people! It's only Nigerians----the mischievous and the politically-biased---who will always expect the govt to pick the minds of every citizen to be able to deter their criminal intents. It's only in Nigeria that we excpect our govt to force people to use over-head bridges to save their lives. It's only in Nigeria that we provide silly and crazy excuses for oil pipeline thieves, armed robbers, con-artists (419ers), money ritualists and even treasury looters----that it's the economy that drove them into it.

ajis15  # 9 | 29.12.2006 12:03

Thanks Dr. Abati. if life has become so meaningless in Nigeria, and Nigerians have come to that conclusion of "Something must kill man" then they should loose it in a dignified manner. They should in one mass suicide confront the evils that make their life meaningless. The corrupt and venal leadership. They should enmass confront and sack the corrupt governments at all levels: federal, state and local government. Over 700 people lost in one incident. It is sad.

Auspicious  # 10 | 29.12.2006 12:16

=Goddy;146203>It's only Nigerians----the mischievous and the politically-biased---who will always expect the govt to pick the minds of every citizen to be able to deter their criminal intents. It's only in Nigeria that we excpect our govt to force people to use over-head bridges to save their lives. It's only in Nigeria that we provide silly and crazy excuses for oil pipeline thieves, armed robbers, con-artists (419ers), money ritualists and even treasury looters----that it's the economy that drove them into it. Stop, Goddy, Stoooop! Nooo! Boooo! Hoohoho! Auspicious is laughing, crying and wailing in the same breadthe. He can't make up his mind wether to laugh or to cry. The bolded portion is kind of true oo! But Nna, wait o; police - government - in America also have to force people not to "jay-walk" on their roads, you know? Otherwise, how do people get fined/arrested for crossing busy roads in places like New York, LA and others? Of course, the people have their own share of the blame, Goddy. But the government bears the PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY for the providing for the people when it comes to issues like safety, infrastructure, economy etc. Imagine America without the Rule of Law for a SINGLE day....and you won't find a situation any different from that which exists in Nigeria day-in, day-out. Infact, in could be worse! It's the Government, Folks! Auspicious.

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