EXCLUSIVE: Lagos prepares for terror attacks

Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State ─ which has been most hit by the Boko Haram insurgency ─ said recently that southerners should not think they are immune to terror attacks, warning that if the militants succeeded in the north they would spread to the south.

A security source told TheCable that “the possibility of attacks in the south are now very high, although they may not be as frequent as what we are witnessing in the north”.

He said there is no denying the fact that “the south has now become a target” ─ although he refused to reveal the findings of the probe of the explosive devices found at a church in Owerri, Imo State, last month.

Meanwhile, at a meeting with operators of tank farms on Tuesday, Fashola asked them to be more vigilant.

He said they should promptly report suspicious vehicles in their areas of operation to the police and other security agencies.

Fashola told the operators: “You have to put down your foot about vehicles parking around your premises. We have tried but many of you have resisted. We have been called anti-poor and anti-business, but it is only those who are alive that will do business.

“So around your tank farms, around your offices and around your storage facilities, there should be no vehicles that are parked there that could not be accounted for. Once there is such a vehicle that you cannot account for, let us know, call the commissioner of police or the director of SSS, this is the way to win this war; it is not going to happen by wishes or getting sensational or hysterical.

“The game must change. We have met with hospitality facilities, we have met with health, we have met with the malls, the motor parks, we are taking every measure, we are not leaving anything to chance, every information that we get we check. But we need leaders in strategic places because we can’t run your businesses and we need you now to take responsibility in this area and leave the rest to us.”