Troops foil attack on UNIMAID, kill ‘suicide bomber’

The Nigeria army foiled a suicide attack on the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) around 11pm on Sunday, killing only the suspected bomber.

A witness told TheCable that one of the officers sighted the suspect as he tried to gain entry into the institution.

After he was killed, security was beefed up in the area.

Presently, men of the civil defence, police and the military have taken over Shettimari, Dalori and Kwayamti villages, which are around the university.

As of the time this report was filed, no official comment had been made on the incident.

Boko Haram insurgents attacked the institution in January, killing four persons, including a professor and an infant.

Abubakar Shekau, leader of the sect, later released an audio where he claimed responsibility for the attack.

Shekau said the mosque in the university was attacked because it was an “ungodly place”.

“My people were behind the bomb explosion of this morning,” he had said in the audio released on YouTube.

“Don’t deceive people that that’s a mosque, how would you build a mosque and do ungodly things in it?”

But in his response, Abubakar Njodi, the vice-chancellor of UNIMAID, said UNIMAID would not bow to threats from the militant group.

He said even in the heat of insurgency, the university never suspended operations for one day.

” The fight is for us, it is us that they are against… so how do you expect us to leave,” Njodi had said.