President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday inspected the scene of the bomb blast that rocked the United Nations office in Abuja, with a promise to liaise with world leaders and the UN to bring the masterminds to justice.


The Abuja UN office houses 26 humanitarian and development agencies of the global body.

According to him, any terror attack on any part of the world is an affront to humanity and not just the place attacked. He spoke just as the UN called on Nigeria to bring perpetrators and sponsors of the bomb attack to justice.


Members of the council, at a session held at the council's chamber at the UN headquarters in New York to debate peacekeeping, also observed a one-minute silence in honour of the victims of the attack.

Justifying the attack on the UN building, the Boko Haram group yesterday in Maiduguri said their decision to attack the building in Abuja stemmed from the support given by United States of America and UN to the Nigeria government in the persecution of Muslims across the country.


Official figures released by the National Emergency Management Agency confirmed that the number of deaths from attack were19, with 20 sustaining serious injuries while about 100 victims sustained minor injuries from the suicide blast.

Criticisms of the attack also continued yesterday with senate president, David Mark, his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, governors, the Peoples Democratic Party and former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida decrying the attack on the UN by the northern-based Boko Haram.


Jonathan, who was conducted round the scene of the Friday blast by the National Security Adviser, General Owoye Azazi, stepped through shattered glass and past dried pools of blood at the damaged building as UN employees salvaged printers, computers and all they could carry to keep the mission running.

The UN’s acting resident coordinator in Nigeria, Agathe Lawson, promised humanitarian aid would continue to flow through the world body to Africa's most populous nation, even though the Boko Haram sect — which claimed responsibility for the attack — views it as a target.


Jonathan, who also walked by the battered exit gate the suicide bomber rammed through to reach the massive UN building's glass reception hall Friday morning, said though the attack might have given Nigeria a bad image, it was not peculiar to the country.

He arrived at the bombed UN office at 12.02 pm accompanied by many  aides and was received on arrival by Azazi, Ministers of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku; Police Affairs, Caleb Olubolade; Foreign Affairs, Olugbenga Ashiru; and Minister of State for Defence, Mrs. Olusola Obada, among others.


He added that terrorist attacks had occurred in other parts of the world and the attack at the UN office might just be Nigeria's share of the global threat.

"One thing is very clear, terrorist attacks on any individual or any group is a terrorist attack on the rest of the world; it not just about the UN office in Nigeria.


“We will work with the UN and all the world leaders, of course, many of them have contacted me between yesterday and today. Nigeria is not an isolated case. Many countries have suffered from terrorist attacks, maybe it is the turn of Nigeria. But we are on top of the situation," the president assured.

The UN Security Council in a statement by its president, Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri, condemned the bombing, "in the strongest terms".


While calling on Nigeria to bring the "perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors" of what it called, "these reprehensible acts of terrorism" to justice, it urged all states to cooperate actively with the Nigerian authorities in this regard, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions.

In the statement, the council reaffirmed that "terrorism in all its forms and manifestations is criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of its motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed."


It also harped on the need for all states to combat by all means, in accordance with UN Charter, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.

It, however, urged member-states to ensure that measures taken to combat terrorism comply with international law, in particular international human rights, refugee and humanitarian laws.


The statement also said, “Members of the Security Council underlined their support for the people and the Government of Nigeria, and their support for the crucial work that the United Nations is doing in partnership with the Government of Nigeria for the benefit of all Nigerians."



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