In what was generally regarded as a premeditated and coordinated onslaught against telecommunications companies across the country, gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram on Tuesday and in the early hours of Wednesday, attacked 30 base stations located in Bauchi, Borno and Kano States. The attacks affected the services of the four major GSM companies in the country.It was revealed that one person was injured, while an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was defused by the Police Anti-bomb Squad in Bauchi State.
The attacks, according to THISDAY checks, are believed to be a fallout of the sect’s threat in February this year on telecom companies for allegedly “compromising its ethical obligations” in divulging information about its activities to security operatives, which had led to the arrest of many of its members.
The sect members were said to have on Tuesday night carried out an attack on a mast owned by a telecoms company in a town in Bauchi metropolis, where an IED exploded in the process, injuring one person, while another one was defused by the Police Anti-Bomb Squad in another town within the Bauchi metropolis.
THISDAY gathered that the bomb, which exploded around 10.33p.m, sent residents around the Games village in Bauchi metropolis, scampering for safety.
Confirming the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Hassan Mohammed Auyo, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), said the command was on top of the situation, pledging to get back to THISDAY when further details on the incident unfold.
However, a top security source in Bauchi, who spoke to THISDAY, said: “As far as we are concerned, the incident was a failed attempt because we got information about plans by hoodlums to attack some places. So, we took adequate security measures and deployed soldiers, policemen and other security personnel to guard every identified flash point to ensure that they did not give the hoodlums the chance to carry out their attacks.”
The source added that: “Even the one targeted at the mast, exploded outside the gate because the hoodlums dropped it outside and it exploded. A security man on guard at the place was on red alert, while everything inside the mast was intact except the metal door which slightly injured the security guard who was treated and discharged immediately.”
THISDAY checks revealed that another attempt to bomb another telecommunications company mast along Gombe road also failed as the bomb failed to explode.
“We have foiled another attempt along Gombe road where they dropped another explosive and we are happy it did not explode, and we have defused it. God is in control,” another security source stated.
Equally, an eye witness also confirmed that they heard a loud sound of explosives late on Tuesday night, adding that when they went to the scene of the incident, they found out that a metal door was affected, while the air-condition and generating sets inside the mast building were still working.
Similarly, the Boko Haram members in the early hours of Wednesday were said to have set ablaze the office of the MTN in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
Sources revealed that the assailants, who were about 10 in number, stormed the telecommunications office around 2a.m. Wednesday and chased away the security men on duty before setting the building on fire.
Areas where the masts were destroyed include Bolori, Ngaranam, Dala Alamdiri, Adam Kolo, Limanti, Gwange, Bayan quarters and the west end of the area.
A security man in one of the companies close to MTN’s office, said: “Some young men about 10 in number armed with guns came to this place in the midnight and ordered the security men out of the place before they set the office including the mast ablaze.”
Spokesman of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Borno Operation Restore Order, Lt. Col Sagir Musa, confirmed the attack on facilities of the companies in the metropolis.
The task force in a statement signed by Musa assured the public of its determination to secure lives and property of Nigerians within its Area of Operational Responsibility.
The task force, while appreciating the cooperation and understanding from members of the public and security agencies, re-emphasised that security was a collective responsibility and reminded the public to continue to volunteer credible information to security agencies through the following hotlines: 08064174066 and 08154429346.
In Kano, a policeman told Reuters, on condition of anonymity, that: “Men on motorbikes destroyed MTN and Airtel mobile phone masts in the early hours of Wednesday.”
He said Boko Haram was suspected to be behind the attack.
“We confirm that like all the other major telecom companies, some of the MTN’s installations in northern Nigeria have been damaged by unknown persons,” spokeswoman of MTN, Funmilayo Omogbenigun, told Reuters Wednesday.
“All the relevant government security agencies have been informed and we are receiving their full co-operation,” she added.
Meanwhile, when THISDAY visited the burnt office of the MTN Wednesday afternoon, it was shut as the place was deserted by both workers and customers.
THISDAY gathered that the incidents had sent panic among telecom companies in the metropolis as they locked their offices Wednesday, while customers also were turned back.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks as at the time of filing this report.
source:THISDAY
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