The director general of the National Youth Service Corps, Muharazu Ismaila Tsiga, has said those who planted yesterday’s bomb that killed 11 people, mostly corps members, should be killed by firing squad when apprehended.
“Every time you mention the firing squad, people scream about human rights as if the victims have no rights,” Mr Tsiga said.
The NYSC boss was at the Suleja General Hospital to see victims of the bomb blast that rocked the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Suleja, Niger State, where corps members and INEC officials were preparing for today’s election.
Asked if he supports the continued participation of corps members in the electoral process in the light of the tragedy, Mr Tsiga said, “We will never allow the enemies of progress to distract us. We must forge ahead. Corps members are Nigerians and we must give them the opportunity to ensure that Nigeria remains united. They will soon be the policy makers after all.”
Although many of those who died were corps members, the NYSC boss insists that “two serving corps members died and we have some who are injured. The rest are ex-corps members who were going to participate in the election exercise.”
When NEXT visited the mortuary where the dead were taken, the bodies of seven victims, six of them young women, were seen on the floor.
One injured victim, Haruna Suleiman Loko, a corps member from Nasarawa State, said “We were checking our names to see where we have been posted for the exercise when all of a sudden we heard a huge blast”.
Like many of the corps members injured in the blast, Mr. Loko said he has no regrets serving his fatherland.
