A sledge hammer for airport’s ‘ants’

It is no news that the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) is the busiest in the country, and one of the busiest in Africa. Therefore, to ensure that there’s a measure of sanity at the airport, especially as regards parking of vehicles, the airport authorities have posted “No Parking” signs all around the airport, thus restricting parking of vehicles to approved places and car parks only.

The most conspicuous of these signs are those posted at the departure section of the airport, where visitors (and travelers too) are warned to ensure that the “Strictly Drop Off Zone” rules are obeyed otherwise, violators would have their vehicles towed away and such would only be released after the payment of a N50,000 fine.

But I had a reason to visit MMIA last weekend. A number of vehicles were seen indiscriminately parked at the forbidden zone, including those that seemed to belong to some staffers of the airport.

As a journalist who always watches out for any opportunity to report unusual events, I was busy scouting round the busy airport for what I could write on.

As it was becoming a bit boring, and as it was getting increasingly difficult to find something attractive to write on, then this happened:

From the blues appeared a group of about 10 soldiers, who were armed to the teeth as if they were going to war. One of them even had a black mask on. Clasped in their hands were some strange-looking submachine guns, not the usual guns most of us are familiar with. Within the few minutes they moved around, there was frenzy in the air, as everyone kept staring at them, not sure of what was going on.

Within minutes, they swooped on the vehicles parked at the drop off zone, forcefully demanding that all such vehicles be moved away. Needless to say, the owners of such vehicles, many of whom were either in their vehicles or close by, quickly drove their vehicles away. But the vehicles whose drivers were nowhere to be found had their tires deflated.

Within a few minutes, the soldiers vanished just as “mysteriously” as they appeared.

As I was musing over what just happened, a visitor sitting close by hissed and said out my thoughts, “are all these really necessary? There should be a better way of getting cars away from here without getting gun-carrying soldiers involved.”

As I shifted my attention to other things, I couldn’t help thinking, “what a way to welcome a first-time visitor into one’s country?”