Eight Christian men were arrested yesterday attempting to detonate explosives at a church in Miya Barkatai village of Toro Local Government Area in Bauchi State, witnesses and Police said.
A government official in the area, who witnessed the incident, said the men came with explosive devices and tried to set them off in the COCIN Church but they were overpowered by locals who handed them to security men.

“They were arrested with sophisticated weapons and all of them are Christians living in the area even though they are from neighboring villages near Miya Barkatai,” he said.

The official said after the attackers were arrested, there was disagreement between residents and Christian worshippers when some people said the would-be bombers should be released.

But soldiers and police later took away the suspects to Bauchi for further investigations.

Locals gave names of four of the eight men as Lamba Goma, Filibus Danasa, Joshua and Daniel.

State Police Commissioner Mr Ikechukwu Ayo Aduba confirmed the incident to Daily Trust by telephone yesterday.

“It is true that some people attempted to attack COCIN Church. There are rival groups within the church; they have their own internal problem and the other rival group decided to attack the church this morning.

“When we got the report, the DPO in the area sent a patrol team and they arrested seven people. They have something like explosives, and our bomb experts confirmed that the IEDS (improvised explosive devices) recovered are locally made bombs but are manually operated which means you have to ignite it,” he said.

Aduba said this was the second time they are recovering such types of explosives, the first time being in Ganjuwa Local Government Area.

“We are appealing to the general public not to panic. They should be law abiding and report any suspicious character to the Police. Our men are on alert 24 hours to ensure public safety,” he added.

The North East zonal chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Reverend Shua’ibu Mbyal said the incident was over the transfer of the COCIN church headquarters.

“What had happened was a sad incident because it was a lingering problem within the COCIN church over the transfer of headquarters of the church.

“The problem lingered for over a year. We are not happy with the development. Whatever happened let Christians understand that the Bible remains the yard stick to follow; we must follow the teachings of bible to resolve our lingering problems,” he said.

Yesterday’s bombing attempt came in the wake of rising suspicion among Muslims that attacks on Christians and churches in the past months might have been orchestrated by other Christians and not the Boko Haram sect as people are wont to believe.

Last month, a Christian man wearing turban was arrested in Bayelsa State trying to set fire to a church over a disagreement with officials regarding his home’s rent payment.

Also, local Muslims say they believe that a deadly gun attack on a Christian gathering in Mubi, Adamawa State, in January was waged by other Christians and not Boko Haram.

Similarly, Christians were suspected of being behind another gun raid on a church in Gombe also in January, though there was no conclusive evidence to support these assertions.

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