Barely 24 hours after the religious sect, Jama’atu Ahlis-sunnah lidda’ati wal Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram, issued a warning of wider attacks in the country, the Force Headquarters in Abuja was yesterday rocked by multiple explosions that left at least 10 dead and over 70 cars destroyed in the ensuing inferno.
The attack, which happened at about 10:30am at the car park of the police headquarters, left the bomber dead as well as the traffic warden who tried to stop him.
Though the police said only two persons died from the blast, an official of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) who participated in the rescue operation told our correspondent that the agency filled nine bags with shredded body parts strewn across the vicinity of the blast. The NEMA official said the body count from the blast cannot be fewer than 30.
An eyewitness account has it that the suspected suicide bomber, who was driving a 1984 model of Mercedes Benz car, had tried to join the convoy of the inspector-general of police (IGP), Hafiz Ringim, who arrived the headquarters at the time.
The police officer who did not want his name in print said the traffic warden who died in the explosion had intercepted the driver and joined him in the car, redirecting it to the car park for further interrogation when the bomb went off.
According to him, they were, however, stunned by the reverberating sound from the explosion as most people took to their heels in the confusion that ensued.
The attack on the force headquarters came on the heels of a declaration by the IGP Ringim that “the days of Boko Haram are numbered”.
The group, which had staged a series of deadly attacks mainly in the country’s north, had on Wednesday threatened ‘fiercer and wider’ attacks and ruled out any talks with the government.
The statement which was handwritten stated: “Very soon, we will wage jihad…We want to make it known that our jihadists have arrived in Nigeria from Somalia where they received real training on warfare from our brethren who made that country ungovernable.
“This time round, our attacks will be fiercer and wider than they have been.”
Boko Haram had on Monday set conditions for ceasefire and dialogue with the government. Some of the conditions include strict application of Sharia Law in the 12 predominantly Muslim states in the north, resignation of Gov. Kassim Shettima of Borno and prosecution of the former state governor.
The inspector-general of police in a press statement signed by the force public relations officer (FPRO), Mr. Olusola Amore, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), and made available to LEADERSHIP, expressed displeasure over the suicide bomb attack which is believed to have been targeted at him.
He assured that the criminal elements behind the attack would be fished out as the government, the police and other security agencies would not succumb to the demand of any criminal group or individual.
The police boss appreciated the efforts of the men and officers of the fire service and the team of armed forces fire service who promptly responded to put off the fire.
The body of the bomber, he said, had been recovered for DNA test while investigation has commenced into the circumstances surrounding the attack.
The police command and police divisions within the FCT were found to have immediately strengthened security arrangements as visitors were subjected to thorough search before being allowed entrance into the premises.
Some FCT residents who spoke to our correspondent insisted that the attack should have been anticipated as the force headquarters and most police stations in the FCT and other parts of the country operated without security precautions.
A businessman in the Central Business District of the FCT, whose business was shut following the cordoning of the area by the police, decried the fact the police waited for the militants to take the war to their base.
Eyewitnesses’ Accounts
An eyewitness, Deacon Arowolo, who led a delegation of The Apostolic Church(Olorunda Assembly), in Ketu,Lagos, to the Force Headquaters told LEADERSHIP of how he witnessed the gory bomb blast.
Deacon Arowolo recounted that he and his group had arrived ahead of an appointment scheduled for 10.00am yesterday at the force headquarters. He noted that minutes after sighting a police officer who was trying to prevent the driver of a Mercedes car from going beyond a restricted area, a big explosion took place in the suspected bomb-laden car driven by a suicide bomber.
“I was in a vehicle at the police car park. I and other members of our delegation were waiting to have an appointment with a top officer. So we came early so as to see him. All of a sudden, I just saw a man arguing with a policeman on where he was driving to. The next thing I heard was a very big blast that threw me and our people out of the bus. We all found ourselves on the ground.
"There were broken windows everywhere. Some of us even sustained injuries due to flying pieces of glass. The blast was so strong that it lifted many cars and heaped them on top of one another. And the next thing I saw was fire everywhere. So we ran in different directions. It was so horrible. I have never seen anything like this all my life. We came so close to death, yet God saved everyone of us.
"You needed to see human parts scattered all over the place. Some police men and other civilians who were near the scene all lost their lives. They were cut to pieces. I even saw a police officer with his arm cut off,” he said.
Another eyewitness, a top police officer who pleaded anonymity, told LEADERSHIP that he saw the blast go off at the point where he was locking the door to his car in the ill-fated car park.
“A few minutes after locking my car to enter into the building, the bomb exploded. It lifted me from the floor. I immediately ran into one of the offices out of panic. I didn’t even realise it was a bomb. Till now I’m having a serious headache as a result of shock. My windscreen has been shattered. There were pieces of human parts all over my car. I think the character targeted the IGP who had just come into the office. They may have trailed him,” he said.
Meanwhile security has been tightened in all parts of the Federal Capital Territory following the blast in the Force Headquarters. Visitors were barred from entering the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from the time the bomb went off.
A combined team of riot policemen, State Security Service (SSS) operatives and other plain-cloth security agents threw a security cordon around the premises of the apex bank, turning back all intending visitors. One source at the scene hinted our correspondents that intelligence reports suggested that the terrorists were also targeting the headquarters of the apex bank.
At the headquarters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), security was equally tight, though visitors were not turned back.
Security was equally stepped up at banks’ branches across the FCT with customers being subjected to thorough screening. Parents rushed to schools to pick their children as soon as news of the blast hit the screen.
Barely a few hours after a bomb exploded at the police force headquarters in Abuja, another bomb exploded in a house near EYN Church in Damboa, the headquarters of Damboa local government area of Borno, some 89 kilometres away from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. The bomb was suspected to have been planted by members of the Boko Haram sect. It killed four children and injured another.
Our correspondent gathered that the explosion occured at about I: 00pm Thursday, as the children were playing with polythene bag containing the bomb.
The Borno State police commissioner, Alhaji Mohammmed Jinjiri Abubakar confirmed the story.
Three weeks ago, gunmen suspected to be members of the sect attacked a police station, a police barracks and a bank in Damboa, the headquarters of Damboa local government area of the state.
When our correspondent sought the reactions of some Maiduguri residents to the bomb explosion at the police headquarters in Abuja and what it portends for the security of the country, Malam Bukar said it signifies great danger to life and property in the country.
He said, “If places like force headquarters will not be spared, I think the people of Nigeria are in great danger. The federal government should do something as a matter of urgency to address the security challenges in the country.”
Another resident, Mr. James Peter called on President Goodluck Jonathan to do something quickly, to avoid the trend of bomb blasts reaching the South and the country subsequently becoming ungovernable.
He observed that the federal government had taken the issue of Boko Haram lightly and as if it was solely a Borno State and northern problem and now, it had gotten to Abuja, stating that by the time it gets to Lagos and other parts of the South-West, Nigeria would become like Afghanistan and other war-torn zones.
