Many questions remained unanswered at the weekend as Jos, the Plateau State capital which was bombed twice last week, was enveloped in fear. “Were there 100 suicide bombers unleashed on the Tin City ready to strike? “Were there 10 bombs already planted around the city by Boko Haram insurgents ready to go off?
The Special Task Force (STF) on the Jos crisis said yesterday that three people died from the failed suicide attack on a football viewing centre in the city on Saturday night.
Two others were injured. A vehicle driven by the bomber and a block of shops were destroyed, it said in a statement by the STF spokesman Capt. Ikedichi Iweha.
More than 100 people were killed in the first attack in Jos last week.
A source within the security agencies alleged that over 100 suicide bombers might have been deployed in Jos.
The senior security officer said: “Let me tell you, we are in serious trouble in this state. Do you know that since last Tuesday’s explosion more than six members of Boko Haram have been caught and arrested from various places within the city”
The source added: “All the tension and rumour you are hearing everywhere in town that some people were caught with bomb here and there in Jos are real. Don’t just call them rumour; they are real. We have discovered at least six of them since that Tuesday attack”
It was learnt that one of the Boko Haram agents apprehended last Friday at the Air Force base in Jos had confessed that there were at least 100 of them deployed in Jos city to detonate explosives at identified points.
The suspect reportedly claimed that he was heading for the Airforce Hospital to deliver food to a patient on admission. But a security check on the suspect’s car revealed he was carrying explosives and was immediately apprehended and the explosive disabled.
According to the source: “The suspect made a confession that even shocked the Air force men interrogating him. He revealed that he was on errand for Boko Haram to deliver explosives at identified location, and that he was not the only one on such errand, he claimed there were at least 100 already despatched to the city with explosives”
A man suspected to be spying for Boko Haram was apprehended at Mobile Police barrack, the MOPOL 8 close to the Air Force base Jos. The state police spokesperson Felicia Anslem said “the suspect was been arrested and detained for trespassing”
The arrest of the suspect at MOPOL 8, Jos came after letters of threat allegedly authored by Boko Haram were received at government establishments in the state capital. A similar letter of threat was received at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Federal Government College Jos, The Plateau State House of Assembly and other places.
A security source said: “These threat cannot be treated as mere threats, since after the twin bomb blast. Others explosive have been intercepted and the suspect already helping the security agencies on information about their mission in Jos”
The Archbishop of Jos, Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Dr. Benjamin Kwashi, yesterday challenged security agencies in Jos to comb and fish out the remaining bombs planted by members of the Boko Haram sect in the city.
He said a member of the sect, arrested at the wake of last week’s twin bombs that rocked the city confessed that they (Boko Haram) had planted 10 bombs at different locations in the city.
The Archbishop who spoke in Minna while delivering a sermon titled “The good Shepherd” at the dedication of the Cathedral Church of St. Peter and the presentation of four Archbishops of the church, said:
“There were twin bomb explosions a few days ago in Jos in which many people were killed. Just yesterday when I was about to come to Minna, another bomb exploded in Jos. We are aware that one of the Boko Haram men arrested by the security has confessed that they planted 10 bombs in the city. We are also aware that one of the bombs has been seen and detonated by the police.
“But where are the remaining six? The Police must urgently search and recover the hidden bombs to save lives and property”, he pleaded.
The clery lamented the insurgency has wrecked havoc on the Church in the troubled areas, citing the killing of three Deacons of the church in Taraba State and the wanton destruction of properties in the affected areas of northeast.
“The Bishop in Taraba state sent me a report that we lost three of our deacons in the state while in Adamawa state, eight members were recently killed. No good shepherd will be happy about such loss of his herds”.
Kwashi admonished the Church to remain steadfast in prayers while seeking for divine intervention for the country to overcome present security challenges.
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