Police Foil Attempt to Bomb Secondary School in Gombe

Segun Awofadeji
An attempt to bomb some final year students of Government Day Secondary School (Pilot), in Tudun Wada area of Gombe metropolis who were writing their mathematics examinations conducted by the National Examinations Council (NECO) was yesterday foiled by the state police command.

Few residents of the town into fear yesterday afternoon as most of them scampered for their lives after the police discovered a Honda Odyssey laden with heavy explosives in the school that is directly opposite the Gombe Police Area Command.

The state Commissioner of Police, Abdullahi Kudu Nma, who briefed journalists on the incident, said they received a distressed call from the area between 10:30a.m. and 11a.m. and immediately moved its bomb disposal experts who succeeded in defusing the heavy laden explosives in the premises of the school while the final year students were writing their mathematics examination.

However, THISDAY checks revealed that the suicide bomber who defied thesecurity guards at the gate of the school, tried to detonate the bomb by hitting the car several times on the walls of the school but could did succeed.

On close inspection by the police, it was discovered that the vehicle was loaded with 10 long and short cylinders believed to contain explosives, two ammunition boxes suspected to be carrying explosive substances.

Following the discovery, the commands bomb disposal unit quickly went into action and succeeded in disconnecting the explosives which enabled the police to remove the vehicle and all the explosives to the command headquarters for further investigation.

The police commissioner, who could not say whether or not any arrest had been made, however told journalists that investigation would disclose it and that the public would not be left in the dark.

The commissioner added that but for the quick intervention of the police, the explosives would have caused monumental destruction and killed all students who were writing their NECO examinations in the hall.

He said the scene was cordoned off so as not to kill the command’s line of investigation.
The police boss added that going by the number and weight of the explosive cylinders, the blast would have affected or destroyed houses and persons as far as 800 metres away from the school.

He called on the people of the state to be security conscious and report any object that might appear suspicious to them, stressing that no information was insignificant.