University of Maiduguri suspends exams after suicide bomb attacks

The University of Maiduguri has suspended the ongoing first semester examinations for one day following the suicide bomb attacks that claimed the lives of four persons, including a professor.

The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Abubakar Njodi, said exams scheduled for Monday were suspended as the institution mourns those that died in the attack.

He said the attack left 15 other persons injured.

Mr. Njodi, a professor, disclosed this when receiving the state governor, Kashim Shettima, who led a delegation of the state government on a condolence visit to the university.

“From the reports I have been receiving since morning, we have 15 people that have been taken to the hospital from the mosque where it happened. Two of those in the hospital are in critical conditions, o which one of them as I was made to understand is yet to be out of the operation theatre.

“We lost three persons; it was earlier reported to be two, but later the body of Professor Mani was discovered after others were taken to the hospital. That was why there were discrepancies in the figures”.

Apart from three people killed in the mosque bomb explosion, another suicide bomber was shot after which her explosive detonated killing her at another gate of the university, the police and the emergency agency, NEMA, have said.

Mr. Njodi said the university was lucky that the loss was not as colossal as it could have been had the second suicide bomber made her way to a populated area.

“The attackers were two”, he said. “One of them went to the mosque where he detonated his bomb and the other was spotted trying to scale the security before the bomb went off.

“So we have to suspend the exams today (Monday), because we could not have had a stable mind to go and write exams under this grieving condition.  So we have to suspend the exams to allow even the security do all the necessary checks they may want to do.”

The chief security officer of the university, Yakubu Ibrahim, a retired army major, said the second suicide bomber, a teenage girl, was spotted near the 5th Gate of the University.

He said she was seen speaking to herself, and when she was asked to identify herself, she detonated her bomb and killed herself. He did not, like the police, however admit she was shot before the explosion.

Governor Shettima commiserated with the university community on the incident, especially the death of the professor.

The governor also commended the management on the suspension of examinations.

“It is highly commendable that you have suspended the exams for a day. This would allow the security to comb the nooks and crannies of the university in order to avert further occurrence,” he said.

The governor called for stricter security within and around the university. He also promised to rebuild the destroyed mosque.