Maiduguri — There was pandemonium yesterday in the National Youth Service Commission (NYSC) camp on Biu road Maiduguri, Borno State, as a bomb suspected to be planted by Islamic radical sect, Boko Haram exploded.
Scores were said to have been injured though there was no official confirmation.
A corps member who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said soldiers took over the camp immediately and ordered corpers to stay indoors.
The bomb reportedly went off at 9:27pm.
This was as some southern states have concluded arrangement to evacuate their indigenes from Borno State, as attacks by radical Islamic sect, Boko Haram, continued yesterday.
However, government pleaded with residents not to flee assuring that adequate measures have been put in place to ensure that safety.
Daily Champion gathered that the decision of some of the states is to save the loss of lives and property of their indigenes.
In Anambra, Governor Peter Obi said his government would begin the evacuation of indigenes of the state from the troubled city. Last week, Abia State had warned that it will evacuate its citizens if the attacks continue.
Obi said the state is now set to commence evacuation of Anambra Indigenes from crises prone areas. He said this yesterday while speaking with State House Correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Obi who is Deputy Chairman of the Governors Forum, said the decision became necessary to save citizens from being killed in the cross fire between members of the Joint Task Force (JTF) and the Boko Haram.
"The option is to begin the evacuation of Anambra indigenes from Maiduguri, Borno State if the bombings in the state continue".
He said he was taking the option because he was not prepared to see any son or daughter of Anambra to be harmed in any part of the country from crisis.
He described the actions of the Boko Haram sect which has resulted in killings of innocent Nigerians in parts of the country, as unacceptable and must be tackled.
He said members of the sect have no justifiable reasons for their actions, noting that there was no need for some group of people to make the country very inhabitable to citizens. "This is the only country that we have as our own; we have no place to go".
Meanwhile, two soldiers were injured in the attack on Baga road, Maiduguri Metropolitan Council (MMC) while operatives of the Joint Task Force (JTF) the allegedly shot dead three members of the Boko Haram sect who attacked the military vehicle.
Confirming the attack, the spokesman of the JTF Colonel Victor Ebheleme said the bomb was thrown at the patrol vehicle of the soldiers, while on a routine duty in the area, injuring two soldiers.
He said the soldiers engaged the sect members in a gun duel killing three of them, while others who fled and were pursued with a view to arresting them and bringing them to book.
Another bomb blast occurred when a NEMA vehicle matched on a bomb buried in pot hole on the same Baga road but no injury was reported yet.
Meanwhile, people in their thousands are relocating from Maiduguri to their villages and other neighboring states they consider safe, as the city has been turned into war zone were business and social activities have come to a stand still.
When our correspondent visited some motor parks in the metropolis, thousands of people including students of the University of Maiduguri which was closed on Monday were seen boarding vehicles going outside the state.
It could be recalled that the management of University of Maiduguri, on Monday due to what it described as security threat to both the institution and the students.
Speaking to our correspondent, a student of the institution, Ibrahim Idris said they received the news of the closure with mixed feelings because students can no longer settle and read peacefully, as gunshots and bombing were the order of the day around the institution, but also regretted that the school calendar will be distorted due to the closure.
Source:
allafrica.com
