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| Director, Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade |
THE military on Wednesday announced that
troops at a checkpoint in Gombe State had arrested the mastermind of
the bombing in the Sabon-Gari Local Government Area secretariat, Zaria,
Kaduna State, in which 40 persons died.
The Nigeria Union of Teachers said 37
teachers perished in the Tuesday’s explosion while many others, who
sustained grievous injuries in the bombing, were in critical conditions
in various health centres in the state.
The Military said in a tweet on its
official twitter handle on Wednesday that the mastermind of the Jos and
Zaria attacks had been arrested by a combined team of troops and
operatives of the DSS at a military checkpoint in Gombe State.
“Following
an operation by a combined team of military and DSS operatives, troops
have arrested a mastermind of the Jos and Zaria bombings at a checkpoint
in Gombe.” the tweet read.
The military is however silent on the identity of the suspected mastermind of the bombings.
Our news source learnt that the
security operatives had trailed the Boko Haram suspect to the military
checkpoint in Gombe, where he was eventually picked up.
Two other suspected members of the sect were also said to have been arrested alongside the mastermind.
A security official, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity, said that the troops shot one of the two
suspects in the company of the suspected planner of the bomb explosions
when he attempted to escape troops.
The suspects were said to be in custody as of the time of this story.
“He was not the only person arrested. He was taken into custody with two other persons in his company.
“They were trailed by a combined team of
security operatives, comprising soldiers and operatives of the DSS, to
the checkpoint in Gombe where they were arrested.
“One of them was shot when he tried to escape while being arrested at the checkpoint.”
The Director, Defence Information, Maj.
Gen. Chris Olukolade, confirmed the arrest of the suspected mastermind
to one of our correspondents on the telephone on Wednesday.
“It is true that the suspect of the Jos
and the Zaria bomb attacks have been arrested at a military checkpoint
in Gombe” Olukolade said.
He however declined further comments on the operations that led to the arrest of the three terror suspects.
The President of NUT, Mr. Micheal
Olukoya, at a programme commemorating NUT founder’s day in Abuja, gave
the number of teachers that perished in the explosion at the Sabon-Gari
Local Government secretariat at a time civil servants were undergoing
biometric verification at the venue.
“272 teachers have lost their lives to
the atrocious activities of the Boko Haram sect in Borno State alone,
over 19,000 teachers have been displaced in the North-East since
insurgencies broke out in the country,” Olukoya added.
The NUT president raised the alarm that
the war against insurgency in the country needed to be firmed up, saying
that daily attacks by the sect indicated that the insurgents were still
waxing strong.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress
has expressed alarm at the increasing spate of mindless killings by the
Boko Haram sect in Zaria, Jos, Kano and Potiskum, among other cities in
the North.
The General Secretary of the NLC, Dr.
Peter Ozo-Eson, said in an electronic mail on Wednesday that the
frequency of occurrence of the bombings only indicated that Boko Haram
had regrouped and would continue to wreak havoc on soft targets.
He said, “We are appalled by the
senseless massacre of innocent workers (by suicide bombers) who had
gathered for screening at the local government secretariat in Zaria. It
defies comprehension.
“A few days earlier, we had had similar
fatal explosions in Kano, Jos, and Potiskum. We had also recorded
wholesome invasions and massacres in some border communities in Borno
and Yobe states.
“We condemn in very strong terms this
renewed coordinated violence against innocent and law-abiding citizens
who are just beginning to put together what was left of their lives.
“The frequency and ease with which these
incidents happened seem to suggest that Boko Haram has regrouped and
will continue to pick on soft targets.”
Also, the United Nations
Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, has strongly condemned latest attacks by
the Boko Haram insurgents in Nigeria, Niger and Chad.
In a statement late Tuesday, Ban also
denounced what he called the deliberate targeting of Christian and
Muslim worshippers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Borno and
Yobe states.
“The Secretary-General takes note of
President Muhammadu Buhari’s determination to root out this menace, and
commends the countries of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and Benin for
their steadfast efforts in the fight against Boko Haram,” the statement
said.
Recent extremist violence against both Muslims and Christians left 44 people dead in Zaria, Kaduna State on Tuesday.
In his statement, the UN boss extended his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims.
“The Secretary-General renews his calls
to support the operationalisation of the Multi-National Joint Task Force
through the provision of the requisite political, logistical and
financial resources and necessary expertise, consistent with
international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law,” it said.
The Sultan of Sokoto and
President-General of the Jama’atul Nasril Islam, Alhaji Abubakar Sa’ad
III, also condemned the renewed terrorists attacks in Borno, Yobe,
Kaduna and Kano states.
The Sultan, in a statement by the Secretary-General of the JNI, Dr. Aliyu Khalid, in Kaduna on Wednesday, condemned the attack.
“We, however, use this medium to once
again condemn in the strongest terms the recent attack unleashed on
innocent civil servants undergoing screening at the Sabon Gari Local
Government Area secretariat, Zariam, in Kaduna State,” the Sultan said.
Source: Punchng
