Two weeks after the tragic bomb blast that claimed many lives in Nyanya district of Abuja, forensic experts have successfully established the identities of two men that participated in the bombing
A bomb went off in the busy Nyanya park on Monday, April 14, 2014 killing over 70 and leaving over 100 wounded.
Punch reports:
Security sources told one of our correspondents in Abuja on Monday that the experts identified their bodies using certain scientific variables, including body tissues.
It was learnt that they also identified the third suicide bomber, who managed to escape from the scene before the explosion.
One of the sources said, “The third terror suspect has also been positively identified and we are working to arrest him; but the identities of his two accomplices have been established through forensic analysis.
“Through the assistance of experts, we now know those who carried out the attack. Although two of them are dead, we are on the trail of the one who is alive.”
When contacted on the progress so far made by the team, the Police spokesman, Frank Mba, said he would speak “at the appropriate time.”
He said, “As much as we want to give information to the public on the progress of the investigation, I won’t comment on it now because we don’t want to be distracted.
“We don’t want anything to jeopardise the investigation. I will speak at the appropriate time.”
Meanwhile, 29 victims of the bomb blast are still receiving treatment at hospitals in the FCT.
It was learnt that 30 others were discharged last Thursday from the National Hospital and the Maitama District Hospital, Abuja.
The Chief Press Secretary to the FCT minister, Mohammed Sule, said the medical bills of all the survivors were paid by the FCT Administration.
Sule dismissed reports that the administration had neglected the blast victims . He however said that a victim who discharged himself from the Maitama District Hospital and checked into a private hospital was not covered.
He said, “As of Thursday last week, we had 29 blast victims still receiving treatment in various government and private hospitals in the FCT and all their medical bills are being paid by the FCT Administration.
“The FCT Minister and the Health Minister both promised to take care of the bills . We have records of all the patients and everything that is being done for them as directed by the ministers.”
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress has attributed the security challenge in the country to poverty.
Its Vice-president, Lucy Offiong, who briefed journalists on the plans for the 2014 May Day celebrations, therefore urged the government to urgently end poverty and the insurgency in the North-East.
She challenged security agencies to ensure that the girls abducted by insurgents in Chibok, Borno State were rescued and returned to their parents.
Offiong said, “We hope to use the May Day to reiterate our position that there is an intrinsic link between prevailing insecurity and poverty which has been engendered by corruption, mismanagement of the economy by rapacious greed of the ruling class who have continued to churn out policies in the interest of capital to the detriment of the working people and other poor Nigerians.
“There is a need to recognise the significance of shared prosperity as a basis for enduring peace and sustainable national development.”
Offiong, who is the chairperson of the 2014 May Day committee, said the theme for the celebration is “Building enduring peace and unity: panacea for sustainable national development.”
“We intend to use this occasion to recommit the labour movement in Nigeria to our collective desire for peace and unity without which our search for sustainable development will remain elusive,” she added.