General Officer Commanding, Major General Joseph Shoboiki

Kaduna bomb blast: Army interrogates guards.

Soldiers on guard duty at the entrance gates to the One Division of the Nigerian Army Kaduna during the last Tuesday suicide bomb attack on its headquarters complex are undergoing interrogation.
The soldiers were picked up by military police and intelligence officers and detained for questioning after the incident that resulted in serious damage to the administrative building of the One Division complex, which also houses the office of the General Officer Commanding, Major General Joseph Shoboiki.
The detained soldiers risk being court-martialled if found culpable.
Multiple explosions on Tuesday hit two military formations in Kaduna, including the One Division headquarters where a suicide bomber was shot dead by a vigilant soldier before he could detonate his explosive-laden vehicle.
Explosions also hit the vicinity of the Nigerian AirForce Base, Kawo and the popular Kawo Flyover.
According to an eye witness, the alleged suicide bomber riding in a Sienna car forced his bomb-laden vehicle through the gates into the army headquarters before he was shot dead.
Our correspondent however gathered that the explosion which followed the shooting of the alleged suicide bomber also resulted in the killing of four persons said to be soldiers.
The GOC One Division, Shoboiki, was said to be in his office on the second floor of the administrative building when the suicide bomber struck.
The Assistant Director, Army Public Relations of the Division, Lt. Col. Abubakar Edun, later confirmed that two suicide bombers actually carried out the attack.
While the division’s spokesman confirmed that one of the two suicide bombers was shot dead by a soldier, he was however quiet on what befell the second suicide bomber.
A source at the One Division, who pleaded anonymity, told our correspondent on Friday that the detained soldiers, whose number and identity he declined to disclose, were being interrogated to determine the level of their culpability and negligence during the attack by the suspected Boko Haram suicide bombers.
“Military authorities are angry that the Boko Haram suicide bomber easily penetrated the division’s premises and even moved so close. You can imagine the havoc he would have caused if not for that vigilant and gallant soldier who shot and killed him,” he said.
The One Division spokesman however denied that soldiers on guard during the Boko Haram attack had been detained and undergoing interrogation.
Edun rather told our correspondent on the phone on Friday that investigations into the Tuesday Boko Haram suicide bomber’s attack on the division’s headquarters were still on.
“There is no such thing as placing the soldiers on detention or interrogating them. But investigations are still going on,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Police in Kaduna have said that they have nothing to do with the investigations into the last Tuesday’s multiple bomb attacks in the state.
According to the Kaduna Police Public Relations Officer, Aminu Lawan, the incidents were purely a military affair.