Bomb: Arik Stops Lagos-Bound Flight

There was palpable fear at the Port Harcourt International Airport this morning when the captain of a local airline, Arik Air, ordered passengers who were already seated in the plane for their flight to Lagos to take their luggage and disembark immediately, citing security concerns.

The frightened passengers who did not understand what the pilot meant by security concerns quickly packed their luggage and moved out of the plane which was scheduled to leave Port Harcourt at 7.50 a.m.

P.M.NEWS investigations revealed that the captain’s directive was informed by a discussion he had with a popular Nollywood actress from the South-south who was also on the plane but hysterically ran out after receiving a phone call. Details of the call were still unknown as at the time of filing this report but it was enough for the captain of the plane to order passengers to disembark.

Airport security officials were said to have met the Nollywood actress to know why she rushed out of the plane and after hearing from her, directed passengers to leave the plane.

After the passengers had disembarked, officers of the bomb disposal unit of the Nigeria Police went into the plane with their gadgets and combed everywhere.

After more than five hours, the passengers were checked into another plane with registration number SN 5 MJJ. Before boarding the plane, they were frisked thoroughly by the security personnel who also searched their luggage for any explosive.

Many of the passengers expressed fears that the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, fighting for control of oil resources in the Niger Delta, might have decided to carry out its threat to resume bombing of targets around the Niger Delta, Abuja and Lagos.

The MEND threat, issued on Monday by its spokesman, known by the acronymn, Jomo Gbomo, warned Nigerians to avoid crowded places and political rallies, as it intends to carry out series of bombings to protest the continued incarceration of its leader, Henry Okah in South Africa.

An email by MEND warned on Monday of renewed attacks on Africa’s biggest oil and gas industry and bombing at political rallies ahead of next month’s national elections.

The statement sent to media said MEND, a group behind years of attacks on the oil industry until a 2009 amnesty, would resume strikes in the Niger Delta oil region and launch attacks in the capital Abuja and commercial hub Lagos.

Several false threats purporting to be from MEND have been sent in the past and the group has regularly changed its email address. There have been no major attacks on oil sites since the amnesty and it was not possible to verify the authenticity of the latest email, sent from an address not previously used.

There have been several blasts around Africa’s most populous nation in recent months, including a New Year’s Eve car bomb in Abuja and attacks on political rallies with improvised explosive devices. Security experts urged vigilance.

“MEND advises the general public in the strongest of terms to stay clear from all political gatherings or meetings of any sort,” said the statement, which was signed by Jomo Gbomo, the pseudonym used by the group’s spokesmen in the past.

MEND claimed responsibility for car bombs near an independence day parade in Abuja last October which killed at least 10 people and marked the group’s first attack of its kind at such a high-profile event.

MEND’s suspected mastermind, Henry Okah, was charged shortly afterwards in Johannesburg, where he lives, with conspiracy and terrorism, which he denies. He remains in detention.

Other suspected ringleaders have been arrested in Nigeria and it is unclear what operational capacity the group still had. Security agencies are on the alert following the latest threat.

—Ademola Adegbamigbe/ Port Harcourt