More suicide bombings coming, task force warns

Maiduguri residents were told yesterday to prepare for more suicide bombings.

The Joint Task Force (JTF) - Operation Restore Order (ORO) - in a statement by its spokesman Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, warned of plans by terrorists to carry Impoverished Explosive Devices (IEDs) in stolen vehicles. It warned the public to report to the appropriate bodies immediately a vehicle is stolen.

The statement reads:  “Information recently available to the JTF ORO in Maiduguri indicated that there have been desperate moves by Boko Haram terrorists to steal/snatch vehicles to be used for terrorists’ activities by implanting Improvised Explosive Devices in vehicles and or through suicide bombing.

“The Task Force wishes to alert members of the public, particularly those whose vehicles have been stolen, to immediately report such incident to the nearest police station or to the JTF as such vehicles if used for terrorism acts would lead to owners of such vehicles being treated as collaborators and accomplices.”

The JTF spokesman said the task force’s  troops and Department of State Services personnel have arrested six suspected Boko Haram members involved in the attack on EYN Church in Biu, Borno State, on June 17. Some worshippers were killed.  

Those arrested are in JTF custody and are being interrogated.

Also yesterday, Prelate of Methodist Church Nigeria Dr. Sunday Ola Makinde warned that “if something serious, strategic and meaningful is not done, we may just be working our way towards another avoidable civil war.

” Speaking in Lagos against the backdrop of the recent coordinated bombings in Kaduna and Zaria, the Prelate said: 

“For how long are we going to remain silent? Here we are begging the issue while innocent people are dying and their loved ones are yet to get justice. Is it a crime to be a Christian in any part of Nigeria? Every time we raise the alarm and call for action, they will say it has no religious colouration which saddens my heart the more whenever I hear that. 

“Before Sunday’s bombings, no fewer than 200 people have been killed in 12 separate attacks on churches or places of Christian worship in the North so far this year and al-Qaeda-linked Islamist terror group Boko Haram has explicitly claimed that it carried out at least 10 of them. Yet we are scratching the matter on the surface rather than intensify efforts and expose those behind these attacks. No fewer than 40 persons were feared killed on Sunday in Kaduna and Zaria as suicide bombers attacked three churches. 

“And in all of these bombings and attacks on Christians and Churches, no person has been arrested or brought to book. Where are we going? Where is justice? This is what is encouraging this culture of impunity, which makes it difficult for one to ascertain if the Government has the political will needed in tackling this menace headlong. 

“Considering all of these, one then begins to worry, if we ever learnt anything from the first civil war which, for me, was avoidable if the principles of justice and fairness were upheld. 

“I appeal to all Christians all over the North and other parts of Nigeria to refrain from reprisal attacks as the battle belongs to GOD. God will definitely fight for us as he did during the introduction of the political Sharia in Nigeria.”

Rev. Makinde added: “ reports monitored today (Wednesday) confirms that this group, widely known as Boko Haram, has plans to launch further devastating attacks on Churches and Government buildings in the coming days and weeks. The sect said it planned to make this month the bloodiest month yet in its violent and bloody campaigns against those it tagged infidels. 

“The report says they are planning a focused and bloody attack for which 300 suicide bombers have been recruited, sent to Mauritania and Somalia for training in handling weapons, bomb making and suicide bombing  and they promise to start with Southern Kaduna and Plateau, two States populated with Christians, in a bid to avenge the death of Muslims who died in the reprisal attacks. 

“I call on the Federal Government, to protect the lives of innocent Nigerians, especially Christians who have been so patient and have refrained from any form of violence. The constitution to which they swore expects them to do so and they have a compelling duty to uphold the Constitution to the letter. Furthermore, nobody is above the law. Without bringing perpetrators and sponsors of these acts of terrorism to book, justice cannot be seen to have been done, which is a big threat to our collective interest as Nigerians in our quest for a united nation.”

By Emmanuel Oladesu and Joseph Abiodun, Maiduguri              Courtesy Of: The Nation