By Ndahi Marama,
Maiduguri – In the midst of the daunting security challenges Nigeria faces in North-east, particularly Borno State, it is easy to overlook the changes running through the country in different ways, and from different change agents, whose missions have been to make things better or worse courtesy of the forthcoming general elections.
Power, they say, is from God; but, unfortunately, desperate politicians, who want to occupy positions by all means, have capitalized on the Boko Haram insurgency, which started in 2009, to perpetrate crisis to continue despite the huge amount of money the Federal Government is spending on our security forces.
Of particular concern is the bomb blast which occurred at a crowded market in Biu local government area of Borno State on Thursday, February 12. That was the day set aside by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the major opposition party to the ruling All Progressives Party, APC, in the state, to visit Borno State for its campaign. The PDP team was led by ex-Governor Ali Modu Sheriff, who is the leader of the party in Borno.
Sheriff and his entourage, including the PDP gubernatorial candidate, Alhaji Mohammed Imam, and his deputy, Ibrahim Shehu, among others, stormed the zone and flagged off their campaign in Bayo local government. The team proceeded to Kwaya Kusar, Shani and Hawul council areas, where the PDP received over 40,000 APC decampees into its fold. But when the party was billed to leave Hawul and proceed to Biu, an explosion occurred in the town which led to the cancellation of the visit.
Witnesses said a bomb that went off in a crowded market in Biu killed 15 people and left 21 others with injuries.
Human parts
“A suicide bomber today launched an attack on innocent marketers in Biu plateau”, Mwajim Ali Gana, a resident said.
Another resident said “she was buying some soap ingredients at the vegetable section of the market around 3:15 pm when suddenly there was a heavy sound and the market was covered with dust as the entire place was thrown into confusion”.
She added that human parts littered the scene as people ran helter skelter.
A member of the Biu Youth Volunteer, popularly called “Civilian JTF”, involved in the rescue of victims, who pleaded anonymity, told our correspondent, on phone, that a suspected member of Boko Haram entered the vegetable section of the market and detonated Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) killing several people.
He said about 15 death bodies had been recovered while several other people with various degrees of injuries were receiving medical attention at Biu General Hospital.
According to him, youths in Biu protested the suicide bomb attack, saying they blamed some top politicians in one of the popular political parties in the state (name withheld) of masterminding the blast to disrupt the PDP rally.
A doctor at Biu General Hospital said seven bodies were brought from the scene of blast while eight victims died there.
According to him, 21 others with severe injuries were being prepared for referral to major hospitals.
Thursday’s attack is the first suicide mission in Biu since the commencement of the Boko Haram insurgency.
In another development, over two dozen suspected Boko Haram gunmen, in a convoy of
motorcycles, attacked Mbuta village in Mafa Local Government Area of Borno State, and killed nine people while torching several houses and shops at about 7.25am on Thursday.
The village head, Mallam Zakari, who spoke on telephone, said, “The insurgents, riding motorcycles, attacked Alkideow near our village, Mbuta, as early as 4.30am but failed to take away cows. They killed nine people, before proceeding to Mbuta village by 7.20am torching several houses and shops”.
‘No stopping me’
The state PDP governorship candidate, Imam, while condemning the bomb explosion in Biu, vowed that no amount of bombs planted could stop him from rescuing Borno from bad leadership.
“My ambition is to serve the people of Borno. So no form of intimidation can stop me from liberating the people from the bad leadership orchestrated by the ruling APC government”,Imam stated, adding that change in Borno has become an inevitable task which no amount of violence could delay” , he said.
Imam, who addressed journalists on his way back to Maiduguri after suspending the rally in Biu, said: “There are reasonable grounds to suspect that some people may be the brains behind all three explosions in Molai, Post Office Area and the recent one in Biu town”.
Also reacting, the leader of the PDP in the state, Alhaji Mohammed Wakil, who is the Minister of State for Power, on Friday, commiserated with the people of Biu over the blast.
Wakil stated this in a statement.
The minister said the blast was an attempt to open new front of attacks, following ongoing efforts by the Federal Government to ensure peace and unity. Meanwhile, two suspected masterminds of the Biu explosion have been arrested by the Civilian JTF and military operatives.
A security source told Sunday Vanguard: “Two suspects arrested in connection with the blast in an interrogation said they were influenced by a highly placed politician in the town (name withheld) to disrupt the planned PDP rally in Biu, which was to be led by the leader of the party, ex-Governor Ali Modu Sheriff.
“The suspects have been handed over to security operatives” .
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