Again Suicide bomber kills 50 in Bornu

No fewer than 50 people were killed by another bomb blast in Maiduguri, Bornu State on Tuesday.

Although the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the state Commissioner of Police, Aderemi Opadokun, as saying that five people died in the blast, Reuters reported 50.

Opadokun said the suspect, “who was shouting “Sai Buhari,’’ danced close to an abattoir in the market, before detonating the bomb strapped to his body when people had gathered around him.

‘‘Five people, including himself, died, while eight others sustained injuries,’’ he said, adding that   policemen were mobilised to the scene to evacuate the corpses and convey the injured to the hospital.

But Reuters quoted a witness as claiming that   “as many as 50 people were killed.’’

It added that   Lawal Kawu, a paramedic, said 31 charred bodies were taken to a teaching hospital in Maiduguri.

Abubakar Mohammed, a college student, also   told the news agency that he had to run away after the blast shook their school building.

The spokesman for   the National Emergency Management Agency, North-East, AbdulKadir Ibrahim, put   the death toll at 17 while his Red Cross counterpart in Borno State, Umar Sadiq, said 13.

“Our men working to evacuate the dead corpses have revealed that no fewer than 17 persons were killed by the explosion, But I cannot give the number of those injured, “ Ibrahim said.

He explained that officials of   NEMA and     humanitarian agencies were “still   taking the injured to Umaru Shehu General Hospital, Maiduguri.”

It will be recalled that two incidents of bomb attacks occurred on the city at the weekend that killed at least 30 people.

Meanwhile, the nation’s service chiefs will in a few days work out the modalities for the relocation of military’s   Command Centre to Maiduguri as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari in his inaugural speech on Friday.

The Chief of Naval Staff,   Vice- Admiral Usman Jibrin, disclosed this after the first meeting the military chiefs held with Buhari at the Defence House, Abuja on Tuesday.

“On the relocation of the command centre, we are the ones to go back and work on it. Soon it will be carried out, it is a presidential directive, it must be carried out, and we must do that as quickly as possible,” he told journalists who wanted to know the details of the meeting held behind closed doors.

Meanwhile the state Police Public Relations Officer,     Okasanmi Ajayi, said he could not tell the actual number of people that died, “adding, many   people were injured but the place is now calm and people are going about their normal businesses. We are investigating to know the immediate and remote causes of the violence and how to prevent future clashes.”