Boko Haram bomb scare in UI, UNIBEN

Fears of a possible attack by Islamic militants, Boko Haram, led to stampede yesterday at the University of Ibadan (UI) and the University of Benin (UINIBEN). Boko Haram was said to have sent e-mails to the authorities, intimating them of its plan to bomb 20 universities as part of its agenda to stop western education in the country. Boko Haram, in Hausa language, translates to ‘western education is sin.’ The group is opposed to any form of education that is un-Islamic.
According to the e-mail, Boko Haram gave September 12 to 17 as their target dates to detonate bombs at the universities, warning that their message was “not a threat, but a notification which must be strictly adhered to”.The militants stated that it had listed UNIBEN, along with 19 others, where it planned to explode bombs within the stipulated period. Part of the e-mail reads: “Western education must stop in Nigeria. May Allah bless us.”  In Ibadan, security was heightened as security agents clad in bulletproof vests and wielding AK-47 rifles were deployed in the main entrance to the University campus in Agbowo. All vehicles going into the campus were thoroughly searched. Several students of UNIBEN stayed away from lectures yesterday in response to the Boko Haram threat. As a result of the threat, armed personnel from the institution’s security department were at the entrances leading into and out of the campus searching vehicles, students, staff and visitors.

Boko Haram, meaning Western education is sin, was reportedly founded in 2002 in Maiduguri, Borno State capital, and set as its mission the establishment of Shariah law and Islamic government in Nigeria.

Between 2002 and now, over 750 people have been killed in attacks by the sect.