•Residents jittery over large presence of cops
Contrary to widespread rumour, the Lagos State Police Command has said that there is no bomb scare among Lagos residents.
The command stated this in reaction to the widespread rumour that members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect had planted a bomb at Government Senior Secondary School, Agege, a suburb of Alimosho Local Government Area of the state, on Friday.
Four other schools, namely Government Junior College, Girls Senior High School, Girls Junior High School and Government Junior Comprehensive College, were said be located within the premises.
Four police vans occupied by heavily armed policemen were stationed in front of the school when our correspondent visited.
Combat-ready mobile and regular policemen were also seen at strategic corners in the area.
In spite of the foregoing, however, the Police Public Relations Officer of the command, Ms Ngozi Braide, who spoke with our correspondent on the phone, said there was no iota of truth in the rumour. “I am not aware of this. There is no iota of truth in the story,” she said.
Asked why such a large number of armed policemen were stationed in front of the school, she responded: “The presence of policemen in the area has nothing to do with any bomb scare. I am not aware of any bomb scare and there is no iota of truth in the story.”
An official of one of the schools, who pleaded not to be named, said they were shocked when they saw a large number of armed policemen in their premises. He said the police teams arrived the area as early as 7 am.
He said: “We were surprised to see such a large number of policemen in the school. They came as early as 7 am. When they arrived, we approached them to know what their mission was. They said they came to inspect and secure the area.
“After that, they went round each of the five schools in the premises. They interacted with all the principals and allayed their fears,” he said.
He hinted that there was no apprehension among the students because the authorities kept the information from them.
“There was no anxiety whatsoever in the school because the authorities did not divulge the information to the students. If they had been told about it, they would have been terrified and would not have been able to settle down to study all through the day.
“In fact, there would have been pandemonium in the school. To the glory of God, academic activities went smoothly all through the day, and as you can see they are still oblivious of why the policemen are here,” he added.
A student, who identified himself simply as Ade, said he was not aware of any plan to attack the school. But he said he was surprised to see a large number of policemen around the school.
He said: “I wasn’t aware of any Boko Haram issue, but all of us were really wondering why such a huge number of policemen came around.
“We never had such in the area. The usual thing was for a patrol van to be seen moving about in the area.”
Some residents of the area, who spoke with our correspondent, said they were apprehensive when they woke up to see a large number of armed policemen.
A food vendor, who gave her name as Abibatu, said: “Nobody would see such an unusual development and not get disturbed. There must be something unpalatable whenever you see armed policemen in that manner.
“We were locked up in fear for several hours before we were told that they came because there were rumours that Boko Haram were planning to attack the schools.
“ We pray that God will never allow that to happen and also appeal to the government and security agencies to be on the alert.”
Another resident who gave his name as Tunde Aliu, said the presence of the police made him to shudder.
“I was scared when I came out and saw a large number of policemen on our street. We have never seen that number of armed policemen before in this community. I recovered from the shock not quite long ago.
“It was a good thing that they responded promptly even though the story ended up as rumour. It is an issue that must not be treated with kid glove because we have heard of such terrors being unleashed on innocent children in the north.”
A trader who gave his name as James Obi said: “ I thought the governor was coming to the area when I saw the number of armed policemen that came to the area this morning. It was unusual to find such here. It is only when the governor is passing that you see such in this area.”
