Nigeria: Jos – Two Killed Planting Bombs in Churches

Daily Independent (Lagos)

Onoja Audu, Chukwujekwu Ilozue And Patience Ogbodo

20 March 2011

Bauchi/Jos/Onitsha — Bomb blasts that had nothing to do with politics took four lives around churches on the Plateau on Sunday, another form of violence also led to the death of two people in Anambra, with Boko Haram members topping it up in Bauchi by breaking into a hospital and snatching a patient.

Plateau State House of Assembly Speaker, Istifanus Mwansat, and former Governor Joshua Dariye’s Chief of Staff escaped death by the whiskers in Jos when bombs planted in the vicinity of ECWA and COCIN churches exploded.

A total four people died, two of them suspected planters of the explosives.

Another bomb brought to the regional headquarters of the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries (MFM) by a man was spotted by church security guards who accosted him.

The man escaped after dropping the bomb kept in a plastic bag.

In the first incident, two men with bombs rode on a motorcycle along Nasarawa Gwom and tried to plant them at ECWA church, but the devices exploded on them.

The explosions took place in between ECWA and COCIN churches, the bomb at MFM was picked up by the police anti- bomb squad.

Information Commissioner, Gregory Nyelong, said the government is grateful to God for averting further deaths at a time when efforts are being made to restore peace to Jos.

Police Spokesman Jacob Apev confirmed that two of the four dead persons were the suspected bombers.

He said youths in the neighbourhood burnt the bodies of the two dead bombers.

In Bauchi, members of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, stormed the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), on Sunday and took away a patient suspected to be one of their own who was receiving treatment.

State Red Cross Secretary, Adamu Abubakar, who lives near the ATBUTH, told reporters that, “We just heard several gun shots in the hospital, and saw people confused as everyone was in panic; they said they suspected that some members of Boko Haram had stormed the hospital and freed their colleague.

“They tried to pick him silently but they couldn’t because he was chained so they fired gunshots and released the chain and fled with him.”

Other patients said they heard gunshots from the direction of the male ward at about 4 a.m. and went into hiding.

Police Commissioner Abdulkadir Indabawa confirmed that some men “who were armed stormed the ATBUTH, shot into the air and forcefully took away the suspect from his hospital bed.

“Though our men were there, they refused to respond to the shooting in order to ensure that lives were not lost and properties not damaged. The armed men did not care whether lives would be lost or not, so they were able to carry out their mission by taking away their member.”

Indabawa said a team of uniformed and plain clothes policemen trailed the sect members to their hideout in Kofar-Dumi, on the outskirts of Bauchi, where eight suspects, including the one taken from the hospital, were arrested.

“We have five women among them and already we have commenced thorough investigations after which the suspects will be arraigned in court. We have taken the wounded suspect back to the hospital which identity we will not disclose for security reasons.

“All the police need is the co-operation and support from the people for effective security system,” Indabawa pleaded.

Also on Sunday, pandemonium broke out in Oba, Anambra State after police shot a man to death and provoked youths to go on rampage.

Youths took to the streets making bonfires with used tyres, burnt a police patrol vehicle in Ichi, and attempted to set a police post on fire.

For several hours movement on the Oba-Nnewi and Onitsha-Owerri Roads was paralysed as the youths blocked them.

A second casualty was recorded when policemen fired gunshots into the air to scare the youths from setting the police station on fire. A stray bullet hit and killed a commercial motorcyclist.

An eyewitness said the first victim, identified simply as Ogalanya, was shot in his home when he tried to run away from a police team that come to affect his arrest over alleged Indian hemp dealing.

The leader of the youths in the community, Dozie Nweke, condemned the incident but urged the youths to remain calm as dialogue is the best option in conflict resolution.

He said the killing of Ogalanya seemed premeditated, wondering why the police should open fire on an unarmed person.

Another community leader suggested that the policemen should undergo psychiatric tests before they are posted, adding that such extra judicial killings in the past have been swept under the carpet.

He maintained that nobody has the right to take another person’s life, and insisted that murder is forbidden by God and by human law.

However, police Spokesman Emeka Chukwuemeka said the killing was accidental.

The policeman who shot Ogalanya has been arrested and an investigation has commenced, he added.

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