- Several feared death in Bomb blast in Maiduguri
Jan. 14, 2014
SaharaReporters, New York
A few minutes after a suicide bomber struck in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State, an angry mob set fire to a building reported to be the proposed campaign headquarters of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, a former governor of the state.
Mr. Sheriff is seeking reelection to the Senate in upcoming elections in 2015.
Our correspondent reported that hundreds of youngsters stormed the building that once belonged to UTC Company, but believed to have been recently acquired by the former governor to serve as the operational headquarters for his forthcoming campaign to be returned as the senator for the Borno Central Senatorial District.
Two sources told our correspondent that they witnessed the irate mob as they stormed the building chanting anti-Sheriff slogans and vowing to end the former governor’s political career in Borno State. One of the sources disclosed that the youngsters were supported by members of the ‘Civilian JTF,’ a group that seeks to combat the terrorist activities of the militant Islamist group, Boko Haram. Boko Haram took root during the later stages of Mr. Sheriff’s governorship. He was notorious for his mindless looting of public funds and his forays abroad where he was often seen partying.
One of our sources stated that the mob started trooping to the former UTC building shortly after a suicide bomber struck at the Kasuwan Jagwal area of Maiduguri. He said many of the angry youngsters accused Mr. Sheriff of being the brain behind the initial violence that led to the widespread confrontation between Boko Haram militants and security agencies in July 2009. Officers of the Nigerian police murdered Mohammed Yusuf, the then leader of the Boko Haram sect, after Nigerian soldiers captured him and handed him over for prosecution. Many experts on Boko Haram believe that the extra-judicial execution of Mr. Yusuf helped spur a surge of terror attacks by members of the sect who saw in their erstwhile leader’s killing new justification for their argument that Western values are responsible for the reign of corruption, moral decadence and injustice in Nigeria.
