| In what was suspected to be reprisal attack, a powerful explosion yesterday rocked a mosque in Sapele, the administrative headquarters of Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State as worshippers were gathering for the morning prayers. This was the first record of an explosion in a mosque in the southern part of the country.
Though there were no reports of deaths from the incident, an injured victim, identified as Tanko Musa, was said have been rushed to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin, where he is receiving treatment.
Musa was said to have initially been taken to the Delta State Teaching Hospital in the neighbouring Oghara town where he was reportedly referred to the UBTH.
The blast damaged the interior of the mosque with a large part of the ceiling and portions of the roof blown off.
There were, however, conflicting reports on what caused the explosion, with some people claiming that a Niger-Delta militant group planted the explosive device that caused the blast. Others feared that the blast might have been the handiwork of Boko Haram.
THISDAY learnt that the explosion caused a stampede in Sapele as many residents reportedly ran helter-skelter because the cause of the explosion was not immediately clear.
It was learnt that there has been some misunderstanding in recent times over the mode of language in which official prayers in the mosque should be conducted.
It was unknown whether Saturday’s blast was connected with the disagreement, which allegedly arose when the Imam of the mosque introduced prayers in Hausa, English and Arabic.
A group of Muslims in the locality allegedly insisted that Arabic should be the exclusive language for conducting prayers in the mosque.
The Chief Imam of the mosque, Alhaji Mohammed Yusuf, told reporters yesterday that he believed that the blast was targeted at the worshippers. Yusuf however denied the complicity of Boko Haram in the incident.
Sources in Sapele informed THISDAY that the head of the Hausa community in Sapele visited the scene shortly after the blast and reportedly ordered the mosque shut.
However, the arrival on the scene of the Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mamman Ibrahim Tsafe, soon calmed down tempers.
Tsafe said the perpetrators of the act might have been trying to cause fear in the state, adding that having personally visited the scene, he did not think that the explosion was caused by a bomb.
Meanwhile, the Niger Delta Security Joint Task Force Sector 1 Commander in Warri, Colonel Ekang Mbang Ukagu, said the agency’s operatives were at the location in Sapele immediately the incident occurred.
He urged the public not to panic but noted that the area had been cordoned off while investigations into the incident had commenced to establish the brains behind it.
Ukagu acknowledged receipt of a text message purportedly by a Niger Delta militant group, but maintained that they were yet to establish the authenticity of the text. |
