UN Blast Suspects Arrested

Security agencies have made some arrests in connection with last Friday’s blast at the United Nations House in Abuja, the Inspector General of Police (IG), Alhaji Hafiz Ringim, has said.

However, he was silent on the number of arrests as well as the identities and the nationalities of the suspects.
Speaking at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja yesterday at a media briefing held to reassure diplomats of their safety in Nigeria, Ringim added that President Goodluck Jonathan would soon brief the nation on the arrests.

“I wish to inform you that our security agencies have made some arrests and His Excellency (Jonathan) would soon make pronouncements in that regard to you and the nation where this is concerned,” he said.

He added that all security agencies in the country had been ordered by the president to liaise with foreign missions operating in Nigeria to ascertain their security needs around their staff and their facilities.

“It is in that regard therefore that I was asked to appear before you and try to explain some of the things that have happened and also government’s decision as far as security of yourselves and your missions are concerned.  To start this, we have assessed the threats not only in this country but to the entire sub-region of West Africa,” he said.

He also disclosed that all security chiefs met with the president to discuss modalities to ensure the safety of all diplomats in the country.

“On behalf of the security agencies in this country, I assure you that we will go round from mission to mission and discuss what specific security assistance you require that would make you feel more secure,” Ringim said.

The IG also informed the over 50 diplomats present that his office had been inundated with mails from embassies seeking information on the blast and requesting additional security since Friday.

Speaking earlier, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru, said the meeting was necessary to reassure diplomats of their safety in the country which the government was working “assiduously” to guarantee.

Relatives of the dead victims in the blast have been mounting pressure on authorities of the National Hospital, Abuja to release the corpses.

THISDAY checks revealed that the pressure started on Saturday, prompting the management of the hospital to call upon the FCT Police Command to help prevent any ugly incident. When THISDAY visited the hospital mortuary, security officers were guarding the place. Speaking to the newspaper, the hospital’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Tayo Haarstrup, said the hospital was still carrying out documentation before family members could come forward to receive their dead relatives.

He further stated: “They (families) must bring all documents. We are also awaiting the coroner reports before relatives can come for their members. The minister has directed that until such directive is met, we are not allowed to release any corpse to anybody.”

Sources said some of the relatives who had approached the hospital with such demands were relying on religious grounds as the reason for pressuring the management. Also, three more victims of the blast have been flown abroad for proper medical attention, bringing the number flown overseas to seven.

The number of patients at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) has reduced drastically as some have either been moved to the female ward or abroad. The FCT Police Command said that efforts were being made to improve and beef up security in the nation’s capital despite the fact that police and other security agencies were yet to unravel the identity of the group behind the attack.

The command’s Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mike Zuokomor, disclosed yesterday at a press briefing after a joint security meeting chaired by the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, that contrary to some reports, police were not aware of any prior information on the attack.

Zuokomor, who was joined at the briefing by the Chief of Staff to the FCT Minister, Alhaji Musa Yashi, assured residents that security personnel had been deployed in various prayer grounds to ensure a hitch-free Eid el Fitri festival. He also stated that security was being beefed up at all the foreign missions in Abuja, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, the Federal Secretariat and other key places regarded as flash points.

Zuokomor noted that it would be difficult to tackle the recent security challenge posed by Boko Haram because “suicide bombing is still new in this part of the world”.

The police chief also noted that the law, which limits the use of firearms in the premises of any UN body, made it possible for the suicide bomber to penetrate the exit gate of the UN Building despite the presence of security operatives, unlike in Maiduguri where the police were able to gun down a suspected suicide bomber.

Meanwhile, France and Israel have lent their voices to the worldwide condemnation that has continued to trail last Friday’s bombings of the UN House in Abuja.