Boko Haram Planning To Hit Lagos?

Police on Wednesday said they have
intelligence report pointing that the
Islamist insurgents, Boko Haram
militants, have perfected plans to
attack Lagos any time from now.
The Islamist sect had in 2012
threatened to bomb undisclosed
targets in Lagos.
US diplomats in Nigeria had in May
this year claimed that "groups
associated with terrorism" could be
planning to attack a hotel in the
financial capital, Lagos, in a travel
note to their citizens warning of
security risks.
Speaking on Wednesday in Lagos
during the inauguration ceremony
of the newly elected executive
council of the Maritime Reporters'
Association of Nigeria (MARAN),
Hilda Ibifuro-Harrison, the
commissioner of police, Western
Port, said the police got the report
recently, noting that the Western
Port police have quickly moved to
beef-up security at the ports
following the intelligence report.
According to Ibifuro-Harrison, who
was represented by the assistant
commissioner of police (ACP), Selem
Amachree, the seaport, which is the
nation's economic gateway, is a
veritable target for any attack. She
said the police will not fail to secure
the seaports and environs.
"It will be economically disastrous if
the insurgent group succeeds in
carrying out its threat in a
commercial city like Lagos that
houses the two major seaports
(Apapa and Tin-Can Island Ports)
including the numerous oil tank
farms for the storage of imported
refined petroleum products," the
commissioner said.
Continuing, she said, "The Nigerian
police force is assuring Lagosians
especially the stakeholders in the
port industry and Apapa metropolis
to go about their individual
businesses without doubt because
we have strengthened security in
these areas to ensure that the port
is well protected."
Also speaking at the event, Ifeyinwa
Obi, the newly inaugurated
president of the association,
however, challenged the Federal
Government on the need to
intensify efforts in the ongoing
rehabilitation work on Apapa-Oshodi
Expressway.
According to her, improving the
condition of the port access road has
become very imperative owing to
the health and economic hazards
which the bad state of the road
constitutes to businesses located in
Apapa especially the ports that
yields billions of naira into the
Federal Government's coffers.
Boko Haram has terrorised northern
Nigeria regularly since 2009,
attacking police, schools, churches,
mosques and civilians and bombing
government buildings. It has killed
thousands and kidnapped hundreds.
Only on Monday, six people,
including two female suicide
bombers, were confirmed dead at
Maiduguri main market in Borno
State after attack at the market, the
police said.
This came three days after a gun
and bomb assault on Kano Central
Mosque killed more than 150 people
in Kano.
In a similar development, on
Monday suspected Boko Haram
members launched a raid on
Damaturu, Yobe State, opening fire
on an air force jet circling their
forces and dropping bombs, fleeing
residents said. Residents fled or
tried to hide as the attackers
charged into Damaturu firing their
guns and shouting "Allahu
Akbar" (God is greatest), the
witnesses said.
Posted By David Aniemeka