Gov. Kashim Shettima Mourns University of Maiduguri Bomb Victims
Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima visited the scenes of suicide bombing in the University of Maiduguri earlier today.
He commiserated with the university community on the sad
incident, especially the death of a professor of veterinary medicine,
Aliyu Mani. The Governor called for stricter security within and around
the university.
Meanwhile, the University of Maiduguri has suspended the
ongoing first semester examinations for one day following the suicide
bomb attacks that claimed the lives of four persons, including the
professor.
The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Abubakar Njodi, said
exams scheduled for Monday were suspended as the institution mourns
those that died in the attack which left 15 other persons injured.
MORE PHOTOS AFTER THE CUT....................................
Mr. Njodi disclosed this when receiving His Excellency,
Gov. Kashim Shettima, who led a delegation of the State Government on a
condolence visit to the university.
“From the reports I have been receiving since morning, we
have 15 people that have been taken to the hospital from the mosque
where it happened. Two of those in the hospital are in critical
conditions, of which one of them as I was made to understand is yet to
be out of the operation theatre.
“We lost three persons; it was earlier reported to be two,
but later the body of Professor Mani was discovered after others were
taken to the hospital. That was why there were discrepancies in the
figures”.
Apart from three people killed in the mosque bomb
explosion, another suicide bomber was shot after which her explosive
detonated killing her at another gate of the university, the police and
the emergency agency, NEMA, have said.
Mr. Njodi said the university was lucky that the loss was
not as colossal as it could have been had the second suicide bomber made
her way to a populated area.
“The attackers were two”, he said. “One of them went to the
mosque where he detonated his bomb and the other was spotted trying to
scale the security before the bomb went off.
“So we have to suspend the exams today, because we could
not have had a stable mind to go and write exams under this grieving
condition. We had to suspend the exams to allow even the security do
all the necessary checks they may want to do.”
The chief security officer of the university, Yakubu
Ibrahim, a retired army major, said the second suicide bomber, a teenage
girl, was spotted near the 5th Gate of the University.
He said she was seen speaking to herself, and when she was
asked to identify herself, she detonated her bomb and killed herself. He
did not, like the police, however admit she was shot before the
explosion.
Governor Shettima commended the management on the
suspension of examinations as he also promised to rebuild the destroyed
mosque.
“It is highly commendable that you have suspended the exams
for a day. This would allow the security to comb the nooks and crannies
of the university in order to avert further occurrence.” he said.
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