The State Security Service, SSS, yesterday stated that it had uncovered a building in Suleja, Niger State, near Abuja, where improvised explosives devices (IEDs) were assembled. The IEDs were used for the bombing of the INEC office as well as the All Christian Fellowship Church in Suleja, it said.
Addressing journalists at the SSS headquarters before taking them on an inspection tour of the crime scene, at an area popularly known as Chenchnya, Hayin-uku village in Tafa local government area of Niger State, the assistant director, public relations, Ms Marilyn Ogar, also disclosed that six persons had been arrested in connection with the bombings.
A bomb expert with the service, Adegboga Adeniyi, displayed items allegedly recovered from the suspects: they included one gas cylinder, one battery connected to a detonator, two damaged detonators, one locally made revolver and one gun butt.
Explaining that empty oil filters as well as gas cylinders are used for the IEDs, Adeniyi said that 37 unused metallic oil cylinders, two metallic cylinders as well as two knives, 10 GSM handsets with SIM cards, one ceiling fan coil, and two laptops were also recovered.
Other items recovered, he said, were a clock connected to a primed bladeless ceiling fan with 9-volt battery ready for use, some pieces of shrapnel, 200 pieces of detonators, a Sony remote control, five battery chargers, detonating cables and codes as well as a Honda car with Borno State registration number AG 94 MNG.
Ms Ogar stated: “On August 4, 2011, a suspect who is a Nigerien national was apprehended in connection with the bomb incident in Suleja. He confessed to his involvement in the bombing as well as his membership of the Boko Haram sect.
“His confession led to the arrest of a 31-year-old indigene of Imo State who converted to Islam in 2003. The second suspect, who is born of a Nigerien mother and was brought up in Niger Republic where he had his early education, also admitted to being a member of the Boko Haram sect.”
The second suspect also admitted to having worked in concert with a third suspect from Kano State to carry out attacks in Suleja, Ogar said, adding that their confessions led to the arrest of two more accomplices from Borno State. “The five suspects all confessed that the main supplier of the explosive materials used for their bombing operations is a miner from Nasarawa State who the Service eventually arrested on August 30, 2011. They also confessed that they took part in the killing of four policemen at a checkpoint at Dakwa-Deidei in Bwari area council of the FCT on May 22, 2011. An investigation has indeed revealed that the suspects belong to the Boko Haram cell operating on the Suleja-Abuja axis,” the SSS spokesperson stated.
Though she would not entertain questions from journalists, Ogar called on all Nigerians to be more security-conscious and vigilant as well as cooperate with security agencies in the discharge of their duty, adding that the suspects would be charged to court on completion of investigations.
Efforts to speak with villagers within the vicinity of the two-room building located at the foot of a hill allegedly used by the suspects for assembling the IEDs were not successful. Most of them claimed they did not understand Hausa or that they moved into the village recently and hence could not speak about the activities of the gang.
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