President Bola Tinubu has ordered Nigeria’s top security chiefs to immediately relocate to Maiduguri and take direct charge of the security situation in Borno State, following Monday evening’s coordinated suicide bomb attacks that killed at least 23 people and left 108 others injured across three locations in the state capital.
The directive was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday by Presidential Spokesman Bayo Onanuga, in which Tinubu mourned those who lost their lives, sympathised with the injured and expressed solidarity with residents of Borno State. “Additionally, I have directed security chiefs to move to Maiduguri to take charge of the situation. I have also directed the emergency agencies to provide proper care for the injured,” the statement read.
The Borno State Police Command confirmed the casualty figures on Tuesday. “Preliminary investigation reveals that the incidents were carried out by suspected suicide bombers. Regrettably, a total of twenty-three persons lost their lives, while one hundred and eight others sustained varying degrees of injuries,” police spokesman Nahum Kenneth-Daso said.
The three explosions detonated almost simultaneously on Monday evening at approximately 7:02pm, striking the busy Monday Market area near Elkanemi, the gate of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital and the Post Office Flyover locations crowded with residents who had just broken their Ramadan fast.
Emergency responders from NEMA and the Borno State Emergency Management Agency evacuated victims to hospitals for treatment as panic swept through the city.
Monday’s bombings were the second wave of attacks in a single day.
Tinubu characterised the bombings as acts of desperation rather than strength. “I want to make it categorically clear that these acts of terror are the final desperate and frantic attempts by criminals and terrorist elements trying to instil and spread fear, as they are under constant pressure from our brave armed forces and security agencies operating in various theatres,” he said.
He commended troops for repelling the earlier coordinated attacks on military positions and vowed that the perpetrators would be hunted down. “There is no place in Nigeria where terrorists will find safety. We will locate them, confront them, and completely defeat them. Nigeria will not succumb to fear,” he declared.
The Northern Senators Forum, chaired by Abdulaziz Yar’Adua, described the attacks as shocking and devastating, extending condolences to the Borno State Government and calling on all Nigerians to remain calm and support security agencies in bringing the perpetrators to justice.
