The Taraba State Police Commissioner had a close shave yesterday when three suicide bombers riding motorbikes rammed into his convoy in Jalingo, causing an explosion that killed at least 11 people.
Mamman Sule was not hurt, but the impact of the blast shattered the windshield of his car, while a police officer in the convoy and about 20 others were injured. The blast happened at about 8.30am near the State Police Command headquarters, where the commissioner was headed at the time.
Witnesses and authorities said three motorcyclists tried to force their way into the convoy of the commissioner as the cavalcade negotiated a roundabout and headed towards the police command office.
Then came a huge blast from one of the cyclists, killing the three riders on the spot and injuring the outrider of the commissioner's motorcade, Corporal Usman Suleiman.
The attack appeared to be targeted at the commissioner, but this was denied by Mamman at a news conference later yesterday in Jalingo.
Earlier, Police Public Relations Officer Ibiang Mbasekei said the three motorcyclists "came from nowhere", forced their way into the commissioner's convoy and a bomb exploded from the body of one of them.
The blast destroyed the front windscreen of the commissioner's Peugeot 407 official car, Mabasekei said.
The police confirmed three dead and seven injured, and that the dead were suspected to be suicide bombers one of whom must have detonated the bomb.
But the Red Cross confirmed 11 people dead and about 20 injured. Umar Waziri, information coordinator for the Red Cross in Jalingo, told journalists on phone that his men counted 10 dead bodies at the scene of the blast and one other person died later at the hospital.
Daily Trust gathered that a staff of the state Ministry of Finance's accounts department, Nuhu Titus, was hit and killed by the blast as he alighted from a bike just opposite his office. The ministry's office was near the police headquarters and the scene of the incident.
Confirming the death of his staff, state commissioner of finance Illiya Wanapia said, "I am aware that one of my staff is dead but I am not aware that he was actually the suicide bomber."
The Chief Medical Director of the Federal Medical Centre in Jalingo, Dr. Yanusa Wiza, also confirmed three dead and 15 injured, with four victims critically wounded.
The injured police rider, Suleiman, had bloodied left eye, right arm and thigh as he lay in the theatre of the medical centre.
Witnesses said the explosion shook the foundations of the surrounding buildings, shattered window panes and ruptured ceilings.
Window panes at the nearby ministry of finance, state planning commission, and the chambers of the state attorney general, were also destroyed by the impact of the blast.
Also, a nearby fence in an uncompleted building was destroyed.
Bloodied, severed human body parts and shreds of clothes littered the road where the bomb exploded just opposite the main gate of the finance ministry.
Executive Chairman of the Taraba State Planning Commission, Mr Daniel Elisha, who was at his desk in his office said he had to duck under the table to dodge splinters of glass ceiling that came flying into his office as the bomb exploded a few metres away.
"I was in my office and I heard a siren and blast," he said.
The area was partially cordoned by the police as Jalingo residents trooped to the scene to catch a glimpse of the gory images left by the blast, which was the first of its kind in Jalingo since the spate of bombings in the North began three years ago.
Policemen used the opportunity to harass journalists who were at the scene of the blast to take pictures. The identity card of Adamu Sadiq, the state correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria, was yanked from his neck and thrown away by a policeman, and the correspondent of Daily Trust was pushed out of the scene and prevented from taking pictures.
Police commissioner Mamman Sule was recently redeployed from Maiduguri, where he was the commandant of the police training school.
No group claimed responsibility for the Jalingo attack, but it bears semblance with strikes carried out by the Boko Haram sect.
Later yesterday in Abuja, acting Inspector General of Police Mohammed Abubakar said the attack was not targeted at the commissioner and that some arrests were made.
"You see, my commissioner of police was not the target and it (bomb) was placed on the road and it exploded; nothing has happened to the commissioner and we have made arrests," Abubakar told journalists at the State House in Abuja.
Govt imposes curfew
In Jalingo, Governor Danbaba Suntai imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the state. He announced the curfew in the evening after visiting the scene of the explosion.
Suntai said the curfew, which will be on from 6pm to 6am everyday, would be in force until further notice.
The governor condemned the blast and expressed condolence to the bereaved.
He also visited the Federal Medical Centre, Jalingo, where he expressed sympathy with the victims receiving treatment there.
Suntai said the government would pay all their hospital bills and directed the management of the hospital to forward bills to the Government House for payment.
He said that government and other law enforcement agencies were on red alert to stop further loss of lives and property.
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Daily Trust