Report reaching us has indicated that no fewer than 45 suspects have been charged over an alleged Boko Haram plot to attack the country’s financial hub, Lagos.
Sources with knowledge of the matter told AFP: “about 60 suspects were picked up from different locations in Lagos by the Department of State Services (DSS), acting on intelligence information that they were planning to attack Dolphin Estate in Ikoyi last month.”
A source who referred to an upscale area of Lagos but asked not to be identified for security reasons, said some of the suspects were released after preliminary investigations, while 45 others were taken to a magistrate court on Friday.
“They were arraigned on holding charges. The DSS urged the court to remand them in prison pending further investigation and their eventual arraignment before a high court,” said a source.
Dolphin Estate is a gated community on the Ikoyi island, which is home to wealthy Nigerians as well as expatriate workers, many of them in the oil and gas industry.
Lagos State Information Commissioner Steve Ayorinde had already called for the public’s help in ensuring the safety of the megacity’s 20 million-strong population.
“Our appeal goes to every school, housing estates, religious houses, markets and shopping complexes, hotels and restaurants and sporting arenas to take issues of security and personal safety more seriously these days and to work with both the government and security agencies in promptly reporting any persons with suspicious activities or unusual gatherings that may compromise security,” he said.
“Care must also be taken in how domestic servants and house aides are also employed,” he added in a statement.
Security analysts said that at the time, the Lagos bombing was likely to have been carried out by a small group of Boko Haram sympathisers, with no direct link to the group’s high command. [myad]
