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Tag: Yobe blast

  • Jonathan’s declaration insensitive – APC

    Jonathan’s declaration insensitive – APC

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) said Tuesday that President Goodluck Jonathan was insensitive to the plight of Nigerians who are daily falling victims of Boko Haram attacks.

    They accused him of dancing on the graves of Boko Haram victims.

    In a statement made available to The Nation in Abuja, the party said the decision of the President to declare his second term bid a day after about 50 students were killed in a suicide attack in Potiskum, Yobe State, was callous.

    The statement signed by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said it was unfortunate that the President chose to celebrate a national tragedy, saying that “since this President has opted to celebrate a national tragedy, Nigerians should also be ready to celebrate his electoral failure next year.”

    The party said: “Today, the three Northeast states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe are in danger of being overrun by Boko Haram and over 650,000 Nigerians are internally displaced in those states by the insurgency. Yet, President Jonathan says he puts Nigerians first. Lies have never worn a bolder face. The truth is that for President Jonathan, it is Jonathan first, Jonathan second, Jonathan third, Jonathan always.”

    According to the party, with the latest act of blatant hardheartedness, President Jonathan is only continuing along his well-trodden path of acting without deep introspection.

    It added: “When about 60 students were killed in the terror attack on the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, in February 2014, President Jonathan never visited the scene to commiserate with the families of the victims. When over 80 people were killed in the first Nyanya bombing in April 2014, President Jonathan went dancing ‘Azonto’ in Kano less than 48 hours later. And when almost 300 girls were freshly abducted in Chibok, President Jonathan neither acted fast enough to rescue the girls nor visited the village. His administration even denied anyone was abducted, until 19 days after!

    “This President has therefore established a pattern of putting his political interest above the security and welfare of Nigerians who voted him into office. This President has trampled upon the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which makes the security and welfare of the citizenry the raison d’etre of the government’s existence. It is time for Nigerians to respond in kind by trampling on his political ambition and sending him back to Otuoke.”

     

  • Yobe governor challenges Jonathan on blasts

    Yobe governor challenges Jonathan on blasts

    Worried by the killing of 35 students by a suicide bomber, a heart-broken Governor Ibrahim Gaidam on Monday asked President Goodluck Jonathan to explain to the people why insurgents were having a field day in the state despite the imposition of emergency rule.

    He said the Federal Government must take action instead of indulging in the condemnation of such dastardly attacks.

    The governor spoke in a statement issued through his Special Adviser on Press Affairs and Information, Abdullahi Bego.

    It was the first time the quiet governor will bare his mind in a distraught manner.

    The statement said: “This morning, our state woke up to a very sad and heart-breaking news of a bomb attack on our young students at Government Comprehensive School, Potiskum, in which no fewer than 35 students were killed and many more injured.

    “The thoughts of His Excellency, Governor Ibrahim Gaidam and his prayers are with the parents, teachers and families of the innocent victims of this callous and reprehensible attack.

    “The governor is heartbroken and words cannot adequately convey the extent of his remorse and sadness.

    “The governor has noted that this is the fifth time in a little over one year when our schools in Yobe State were brutally attacked and students killed. There was Government Secondary School, Damaturu; Government Secondary School Mamudo; College of Agriculture, Gujba; Federal Government College, Buni-Yadi; and now Government Comprehensive School, Potiskum.

    “Governor Gaidam deeply regrets that all of these dastardly attacks took place under a climate of Emergency Rule declared in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa States by President Goodluck Jonathan.

    “In theory, the Emergency Rule Declaration was a signal that more vigorous steps would be taken to protect the lives and property of people in the affected states and deploy the full might of the federal government to restore peace and security.

    “Unfortunately, this has not been fully the case. Instead of forcing insurgents and criminals to flee, the insurgents are forcing innocent people to flee and making life miserable for everyone.

    “Governor Gaidam believes that President Goodluck Jonathan has a very urgent responsibility to explain to the people of Yobe State and people all across the affected states why murderous and callous insurgent and criminal attacks are still on the rise despite the State of Emergency.”

    The governor demanded immediate action by the federal government to stem the tide of bombings in the state.

  • Update: Yobe blast death toll hits 47

    The death toll in Monday morning blast at a secondary school in Potiskum, Yobe State, has increased to 47.

    The students were killed by a suicide bomber at a school assembly in Yobe commercial city.

    The explosion happened at boys’ science and technical school in the town, the BBC reports.

    The Boko Haram sect is believed to have caused the blast, police said.

    It has often targeted schools during its five-year campaign to establish an Islamic state, which has left thousands dead.

    A suicide bomber that disguised in a school uniform caused the explosion, survivors are quoted by Associated Press news agency as saying.

    Police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu told the BBC Hausa service the bombing had left 47 people dead and another 79 wounded.

  • 14 die in Yobe blast

    14 people including teenage hawkers were on Tuesday night killed by an explosion at a World Cup viewing centre at Tsamiyan Lilo in Damaturu, Yobe.

    The explosion occurred at about 8.00pm when the Mexico/Brazil match was underway.

    Our correspondent counted 13 dead bodies at the mortuary and over 20 severely injured.

    Nine- year old Abubakar from Bindigari Primary School who survived the attack with injuries told our correspondent at the Accident and Emergency Unit of General Sani Abatcha Hospital that he was selling groundnut at the viewing centre when the blast occurred.

    “I was not allowed to go inside the viewing centre. Many of us were selling groundnut at the venue when I heard a bang sound. I did not know how I got to the hospital here until this morning.

    “There were some of my friends that we were selling at the front of the gate. Oga, can you please find out for me whether they are still alive? little Abubakar pleaded.

    Bakura Maina was at the A&E ward of the hospital with two of his sons still in coma. Just as he finished telling this reporter that one of his sons is still missing in the blast, his friends came in to announce to him that the missing son was identified dead at the mortuary.

    “Look at my children (pointing at them at different locations in the ward) the other one is 10 years, that one is nine. There is still one that is missing that we haven’t seen,” he said.

    Audu Tanimu said he was sitting in front of his shop and could not move after the sound of the blast.

    “I was not even inside the viewing centre. I don’t even watch football. I was sitting in front of my shop doing my business when I heard a loud sound. When I tried to run, I discovered that my leg is completely broken and I could not run.

    “My father was also sitting outside with me. Something hit him on the head but he survived,” Audu informed.

    Abdulmumini is 11 years old. His left leg is chopped off in the blast. His mother did not know when the boy left the house to the viewing centre where he was caught up in the blast.

    “For now, the only thing I can say is to thank Allah for keeping him alive for me. No one know how he sneaked out and went to that place,” Halima, Abdulmimini’s mother who is together with her son at the hospital said.

    There are different accounts of the blast.

    While others said the attack was carried by suicide bombers, others said the attackers abandoned the bomb in a tricycle and detonated by some people who were controlling it from a Golf car parked metres away from the scene of the incident.

    The Yobe State Police Public Relation Officer, Nansak Chagwam, confirmed that 14 dead bodies were brought to the hospital and 26 were wounded in the blast, adding that people did not comply to security orders on the World Cup viewing centres.

    “The commissioner of police in the state had embarked on a sensitization campaign to emirs and other traditional rulers to inform the people not to patronise viewing centres across the state.

    “There was a directive that all viewing centres in the state should be closed down but the people did not listen. We advised that people should not go to viewing centres during the World Cup.

    “We are investigating the cause of the blast and we will definitely come out with details,” the PPRO informed.

    The owner of the viewing centre, Jamilu Ahmed alias Jamilu Cross Fire, a former commissioner in the state, who was also caught in the blast narrated that he almost died in the blast himself.

    Ahmed, who is also at the Gen. Sani Abatcha Hospital said: “I was taking tea from a local tea store when I notice the presence of a tricycle. I tried to find out the owner of the tricycle by sending for one of my boys to go and look for the owner when the bomb went off.”

    Yobe State Government has promised to take-over the medical bills of all the victims in the blast.

    The State Deputy Governor, Engr. Abubakar Aliyu, who visited the hospital to see the victims, condemned the attack.

    “His Excellency Governor Ibrahim Gaidam has directed that all medical bills of the victim will be taken care of by the state government. His Excellency has commiserated with the families of those that lost their lives in the unfortunate attack,” the deputy governor said.