Another bomb blast rocked the troubled Borno State capital of Maiduguri late on Tuesday morning, leaving many dead and others wounded.

Prior to the explosion at the popular Kasuwan Shanu (meat market), residents were rudely woken up at 12:45am on Monday by gunshots that boomed in parts of the city till 2pm.

No official reason was given by the military
authorities for the gunshots which many of the
residents feared were fired by advancing Boko
Haram insurgents.

But when business and other activities were peaking in the city , a bomb went off in the meat market, sending cattle rustlers, butchers, their customers and passersby scampering to safety.

Although the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the
state Commissioner of Police, Aderemi Opadokun, as saying that five people died in the blast, Reuters
reported 50.

Opadokun said the suspect, “who was shouting “Sai
Buhari,’’ danced close to an abattoir in the market,
before detonating the bomb strapped to his body
when people had gathered around him.

‘‘Five people, including himself, died, while eight
others sustained injuries,’’ he said, adding that
policemen were mobilised to the scene to evacuate
the corpses and convey the injured to the hospital.

But Reuters quoted a witness as claiming that “as
many as 50 people were killed.’’

It added that Lawal Kawu, a paramedic, said 31
charred bodies were taken to a teaching hospital in
Maiduguri.

Abubakar Mohammed, a college student, also told
the news agency that he had to run away after the
blast shook their school building.

A member of the youth vigilante group, who spoke
on condition of anonymity with one of our
correspondents, however said that the suspect
dropped a bag under a table in a stall with an
excuse that he wanted to pick up something
somewhere.

He added shortly after he left, the bomb he hid in the bag went off.

The spokesman for the National Emergency
Management Agency, North-East, AbdulKadir
Ibrahim, put the death toll at 17 while his Red Cross
counterpart in Borno State, Umar Sadiq, said 13.

“Our men working to evacuate the dead corpses have revealed that no fewer than 17 persons were killed by the explosion, But I cannot give the number of those injured, “ Ibrahim said.

He explained that officials of NEMA and humanitarian agencies were “still taking the injured
to Umaru Shehu General Hospital, Maiduguri.”

But Sadiq said 24 were injured. The spokesman for the youth vigilante group, Jubrin Gunda,who shed light on the Monday night gunshots, said, “just like a few days back, the insurgents tried to invade the town via the same spot, Ajilari Cross, but they were repelled by the military.

“The insurgents who seem determined to invade
Maiduguri were driven back by the battle-ready
soldiers.” He added,”As far as I am concerned, there was no casualty as the militants were successfully repelled. There was exchange of gunfire too but the insurgents quickly fled back when they saw that the military were on the alert.”

There were two bomb attacks on the city at the
weekend that killed at least 30 people.

Meanwhile, the nation’s service chiefs will in a few
days work out the modalties for the relocation of
military’s Command Centre to Maiduguri as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari in his inaugural speech on Friday.

The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice- Admiral Usman Jibrin,
disclosed this after the first meeting the military chiefs held with Buhari at the Defence House, Abuja
on Tuesday.

“On the relocation of the command centre, we are
the ones to go back and work on it. Soon it will be
carried out, it is a presidential directive, it must be
carried out, and we must do that as quickly as
possible,” he told journalists who wanted to know the details of the meeting held behind closed doors.

Usman said they used the opportunity of the meeting to give Buhari security briefing of the country.

He said they succeeded in giving the President insight into the security situation in the country.
The CNS explained that it was the desire of the
service chiefs to maintain the tempo with a view to
sustaining the successes so far recorded until
insurgents were completely routed.

He however appealed to all Nigerians to continue to
support the military by providing operatives with the needed intelligence.

The information, he said, should include suspicious
movements around them. “You know as we continue to put pressure on them in the Sambisa area, they will try to run away from there and then create further problems, using improvised explosive devices,” he said.

Reminded that the terrorists were becoming more
daring, he said,”Like I told you, we are sustaining the tempo and the successes we have recorded so far. We want to continue to maintain that and if there are any suggested solutions that require amendments or alteration of what we’re doing, why not? Most especially the more they give us the intelligence, the better.”

Others who attended the meeting were the Chief of
Defence Staff, Alex Badeh; the Chief of Army Staff,
Kenneth Minimah; the Chief of Air Staff, Adesola
Amosun; and the Inspector-General of Police,
Solomon Arase.

In Motokun, Patigi Local Government Area of Kwara
State, a clash between the residents and Fulani
herdsmen led to the death of five people.
A source told journalists in Ilorin on Tuesday that
some people were also wounded during the
incident which was confirmed by the LGA
Chairman,Uthman Ndako.

Ndako added that with the intervention of security
operatives normalcy had returned to the troubled
community.

According to him the council as well as the Patigi
Emirate Council led by Etsu Patigi, Ibrahim Umar, had peace meetings with leaders of the Fulani herdsmen and elders of the community to forestall further hostilities.

He said, “We have on standby, riot policemen now in Patigi. Our council is peaceful now. Presently Patigi is calm; the neighbouring village is also calm.”
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Okasanmi
Ajayi, “I cannot tell you the actual number of people that died. People were also injured.

“But the place is now calm and people are going
about their normal businesses. “We are investigating to know the immediate and
remote causes of the violence and how to prevent
future clashes.”

www.punchng.com/news/suicide-bomber-kills-50-after-shouting-sai-buhari/

na wa o

A plot by haters to indict PMB with BH. !!!