28th February, 2012
Members of the Boko Haram on Monday set fire to Maiduguri Experimental School, a private school in Ruwan Zafi area of the metropolis.
The incident brings to four the number of schools set ablaze by the terror group within a week.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the group had earlier burnt down public primary schools in Budum, Abba Ganaram and Kulo Gomna, all in the Borno capital.
The group, who’s driving principle was to stop western education, has already denied hundreds of school children access to their classes for lessons.
Residents told newsmen in Maiduguri, that the Experimental School was set ablaze in the early hours of the day by unidentified persons.
“We heard an explosion around 3am around the school but everybody was afraid. Later in the morning we noticed heavy smoke coming out of the school.
“By the time we checked about two classes were on fire, so we mobilised and stopped the fire from spreading,” a resident said.
He expressed shock at the development since the school was owned by a private citizen and not the government.
“We were surprised at the fire because this is the first time a private school has been attacked since the terror attack began a few days back,” he said.
Mr Samuel Tizhe, the Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO), confirmed the incident, saying the police had opened investigation to uncover the perpetrators, but added that no arrest had been made.
“It is true that two more schools have been destroyed by fire. Just like the previous ones, we are making efforts to track the perpetrators.”
Meanwhile, pandemonium broke out on Monday at the Seme Border, in Badagry, Lagos State, after an item suspected to be a bomb was discovered in a motor park near the checkpoint of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).
Briefing the press in Lagos, the Lagos State Police Command spokesman, SP Jaiyeoba Joseph, said that following an alarm raised on the discovery at about 4 a.m., a police officer immediately alerted officials of the Police Bomb Disposal Unit at the border.
Joseph said that a preliminary examination of the bag revealed that it contained a wall clock, two batteries and wires, as well as a well-wrapped iron suspected to be a fuel pump.
He said that officials of the Police Bomb Disposal Unit explained that the contents of the bag could not explode like a bomb, and should ordinarily not cause any alarm.
The spokesman said that officials of the Police Anti-Bomb Disposal Unit planned to meet soon with all the security agencies operating at the border on the issue.
Joseph advised Lagos residents to remain vigilant and to report any suspicious items in their neighbourhoods to the police.