All roads, last Saturday, led to the Yaba Fishing Lake in Abaji Area council in the FCT. It was the second edition of the FCT fishing competition in the Abuja gateway council and was expected to draw Nigerians and foreigners from all works of life.
Ordinarily, an event of that sort, not seen every day in an FCT which cannot boast of rivers or ponds in most of its area councils, would have attracted a mammoth crowd of tourists and fun seekers, but it was not exactly so. Although it was a large crowd that turned out LEADERSHIP can confirm that the crowd would have been twice or thrice the number that showed up.
One of the reasons for the not-too-impressive turn out, a source in the FCT Agriculture and Rural Development department? which put together the event was the near zero publicity which was given to the event. Not many people in the FCT including journalists were aware that a tourist friendly show was planned.
“I don’t know why the organizers did not publicize the festival. Some of us did not know about the event until two days to the event”, an editor of a tourism magazine complained at the venue.
However, in spite of the short notice which most Nigerians who would have loved to witness a fishing festival in the FCT got, it could be said that the security agencies must have been put on alert of the event way before the D-day. Operatives of the various security organs were represented in their numbers.
From the Road Safety officials who mounted road blocks to control over speeding drivers on the terribly bad and dangerously highway from Gwagwalada through Kwali to Abaji and Lokoja in Kogi State, to police officers and operatives of the State Security Service, SSS who were engaged in thorough frisking and scrutiny of persons and vehicles coming into the venue. All the nation’s uniform wearing agencies were not in short supply.
LEADERSHIP learnt from a security source at the venue that apart from the obvious need to provide security for such an event, the security agents did not want to leave any stone unturned in their effort not to be embarrassed by the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents who are sending shock waves of fear around every corner.
Another reason for the tight security noticed at the venue the security source averred, was the proximity of Abaji to Kogi State which he said is fast becoming a depot and factory of sort for the manufacture and safe keeping of bombs used by the Boko Haram sect for their Suicide misadventures.
It would be recalled that the unpleasant incident of the escape of the arrested spokesman of the sect Abu Qaqa from the grips of the police happened in Abaji. He was taken there by a team of police officers led by now dismissed commissioner of police Zakari Biu for a search of his hideout when his gang members allegedly waylaid the police team and freed the police captive.
The incident which was said to have happened near the traditional ruler’s palace led to his arrest and detention as well as some of his children. A source in the Palace said although the traditional ruler had been released one of children was still being held by the SSS in connection with the incident.
The Abu Qaqa incident was said to have so rattled the security agencies that the listed Abaji as one of the spots to watch closely. This, the source said, informed the deployment of a large contigent of security operatives to guard the Fishing festival and other adjourning places for a hitch free event.
Although the FCT Agriculture and Rural Development Secretary, Mrs Olvadi Bema Madayi, said the event was a huge success as it attracted a lot of spectators, including foreigners saying she was fulfilled, many Nigerians and foreigners who commented on the event said it was not an impressive outing given the huge amount of money that would have been sunk into the event.
According to them, in other parts of the world, the event would have been a talk of the town long after it had ended but nearly everything was wrong with the event. The competition itself drew controversy when some of the fishermen came out of the water with already dead fishes believed to have been planted there by the fishermen who wanted to win the star prize.
Also, the selection of winners in the various competition was marred with controversy as the competitors scrambled to be selected as winners when organisers could not control them when they emerged from the water.
Another sour point in the entire arrangement was the absence of food sellers. Only one lady who had a person initiative and brought some food was the only one available. A plate of her not too tasty food went for as high as N700.00. This was beyond the reach of most of the participants.?
Winner of the undisclosed grand prize, Mr Kojo Mohammed whose winning catch weighed as 4kg but argued by some participants to be less than 2kg said the reason for the poor performance in terms of catch was that they started with the wrong competition which ruffled the water and scared the fishes which sought refuge inside the shrouds around the water. Kojo told journalists that the competitors were given only one week notice to prepare for the event.
One of the participants, Ahmed Sani, complained of the prizes given to winners. He said they were made to involve in the risky competition but were only given paltry sums. “For such a hectic competition in a crocodile infested river, winners were given paltry amounts of money and fishing nets, while losers were not compensated in any form,” he lamented.
Another spectator, Isah Maumud, said the event which was to start at 8 am, began at 1pm, when the FCT minister of state and her counterpart in agriculture arrived. “The competitors were all in the water at the other end of the river throughout this period, while there were no caterers or food vendors, except for a woman, who sold a plate of food for N500,” he said.