Bomb scare throws Abuja residents into panic

There was palpable tension and panic in Abuja yesterday following an alleged warning by suspected members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) directing workers to stay away from the vicinity of the Bayelsa State House situated few meters away from the Federal Ministry of Justice as series of pre-laid bombs would soon be detonated.

The panic by residents and workers within the area increased with additional information from an anonymous informant that the high powered explosives would claim large casualties if detonated.
It would be recalled that the Independence Day twin bomb blasts that claimed several lives took place a stone’s throw from the Federal Ministry of Justice.

MEND, which claimed to have carried out the Independence Day bombing had earlier warned that it was going to bomb three cities including Abuja and Lagos.
For Abuja residents, the sad memories of last year’s blasts and their attendant devastation re-echoed in their hearts as they ran helter skelter for dear life.

When Daily Sun visited the scene, policemen had already cordoned off the entire vicinity just as anti-bomb squad was immediately summoned to sweep the pin-pointed locations.

However, after a thorough search was conducted by the anti-bomb squad no bomb was found in either location.
Briefing newsmen after the futile search, the FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Jimoh Moshood, implored Nigerians to disabuse their minds from such rumours, which he said, were being peddled by some unscrupulous persons to create unnecessary tension in the polity.

He warned such persons to desist from acts capable of undermining the security of lives and property in the country, stressing that the police would not hesitate to prosecute anyone found to be mastermind of yesterday’s bomb scare at the end of its ongoing investigations into the matter.