Another man was arrested in connection with a plot to bomb the Force Headquarters, Abuja, also on Monday.
At the Radio House, a ministerial platform programme was ongoing when the suspect was arrested with the weapons. Ministers of Aviation, Stella Oduah; Youths Development, Bolaji Abdullahi and that of Information, Labaran Maku, were present at the event.
The name of the suspect was initially given as John Akpabu, but police source later said the real name of the suspect was John Anaku.
Anaku, who looked unruffled and neatly dressed, was arrested after he tried to smuggle hand grenades and rifle ammunition into the venue of the ministerial briefing. The materials were concealed in a woman’s handbag.
He clearly gained access into the premises and was making his way towards the hall before he was stopped.
Perhaps, the fact that he did not follow the pedestrian entry gate gave him away as he was summoned for interrogation.
Upon interrogation, the suspect said he had approached the venue to give the bag to someone else at the ongoing ministerial conference.
He claimed that the contents of the bag belonged to a late police officer who hailed from Bayelsa State. He could not, however, give the name of the officer or the relationship between him and the ‘late’ officer.
The suspect could not equally tell why the officer kept the lethal weapons because after the ministerial platform programme ended, no person came to claim to know the suspect.
The suspect’s response was incoherent, leading to security agents taking him away for further interrogation.
He said: “My late brother’s name is Aliu Clement; he is a corporal in mobile policeman serving in Bayelsa State. He came to visit his family in Abuja on his returning back, he feel sick in the village and died. We now send signal to where he was serving in Bayelsa for his entitlement and could not get it” (sic).
Briefing the media on the development, the Chief Security Officer in the ministry, Mr James AkindeIe, whose men apprehended Anaku, said the suspect was arrested while making his way into the premises, saying he was walking towards the 12-storey building.
The CSO said: “As I talk to you I don’t even know his name as we have not done any interrogation. What we want to do right now is to interrogate him and get the full details of where he is coming from. What he is carrying with him is three grenades’ 86 rounds of ammunition.”
Also, the police also confirmed that a suspect was arrested at Radio House Abuja trying to cause havoc.
According to the source, “we are also investigating the motive of the suspect and what he was doing at Radio House.”
In another development, another suspected terrorist was arrested at the Force Headquarters, on Monday.
It was gathered that the terrorist had laced his body with some explosives and hand grenades which he wanted to use to wreak the havoc, but was detected by the security gadgets mounted in FCT.
Sources told Nigerian Tribune that as soon as the terrorist, Abdulsalaam Salihu, alighted from the vehicle that brought him close to the premises, precisely around the Total petrol station road junction, which is very close to the Force Headquarters by 10.50 a.m. the gadgets beeped and alerted the security operatives.
It was said that the terrorist was immediately picked and all the guards on the premises were alerted through a radio communication which made them pick him at the right moment but not before the anti-bomb gadgets had been fully switched on to avoid any possible explosion.
Salihu was said to have been carefully guarded to the entrance visitors’ gate house and disarmed before being taken to the intelligence unit for questioning.
The other man, Anaku, who headed for the National Press Centre in the Radio House where the ministers were addressing the press as part of the accountability of the ministerial platform being coordinated by the Minister of Information, Mr Maku, was equally picked by security gadgets before he arrived at the entrance gate of the premises.
Anaku simply identified himself as “a frustrated Nigerian,” from Nasarawa State.
He told newsmen that he had been abandoned and “frustrated in life” and so, he went to Radio House to make his grievance known to government.
His frustration was that his brother, a mobile policeman, was killed in one of the terrorist attacks in the North and that he was at the Radio House to let the information minister knew how his brother was killed and how the family members had been abandoned by the Nigeria Police.
Though security personnel did not allow journalists to question him further, he could not explain why he chose Radio House to show off his “frustrations” and how he came about the explosives found on him.
He was, however, being interrogated by the police, who immediately whisked him off the scene.
When contacted, the FCT Commissioner of Police, Mr Ade Shinaba, confirmed the arrest of the terrorists, adding that “they are in our custody, but we are not talking about it. We are investigating.”
The Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, in a telephone chat with the Nigerian Tribune, said the police had not yet ascertained the motive behind the suspected bombers’ actions.
Mba confirmed that while suspected explosives were found on Anaku, broken bottles, umbrella, sachet water and other items were only found on Salihu.
The police spokesperson promised to inform the public as investigation continued on the case.
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