SAN FRANCISCO, February 02, (THEWILL) – In a defiant move on Monday, a female suicide bomber rocked the area around the Pantami International Stadium, Gombe, where the presidential campaign rally of President Goodluck Jonathan was held at the state capital.
The explosion which went off barely five minutes after the end of the Presidential rally gave room to insinuation that it was meant to embarrass President Jonathan if not in the first place targeted at him.
Spokesperson for the state Police Command, Fwaje Atajiri, confirmed the incident, saying two persons, including the female suicide bomber, died in the explosion.
“Two people lost their lives, the female suicide bomber and one other woman. Eighteen others that sustained injuries are being treated at the Gombe specialist’s hospital,” Atajiri disclosed.
The explosion came on a day journalists in the town were attacked by thugs who also vandalised the bus belonging to the Correspondents Chapel of the State Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ).
Chairman of the NUJ Correspondent Chapel in the state , Timothy Choji, said the journalists were trying to flee the venue of the bombing , close to the Kashere street, when the thugs swooped on them, vandalising their bus and injuring five of them.
According to Choji, “Those injured include Adamu Saleh of Daily Trust Newspapers, Abdullahi Tukur of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria(FRCN), Williams Attah of National Mirror Newspapers, and Iliya Habila and Hajara Leman, both of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).”
Condemning the attack, Choji said:
“It’s most unfortunate that journalists were attacked because we are not partisan and will never be. I attribute this to illiteracy and the selfish aim of some politicians who use religion as a platform to achieve their selfish aims.”
