Boko Haram Lagos attack: Sanwo-Olu says his city is safe

Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has assured residents that the city is safe, hours after suspected members of the terrorist Boko Haram sect were apprehended and their plan foiled by security operatives, before they could attack a university in Nigeria’s most populous city and commercial capital.

In a statement signed by his Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, Sanwo-Olu “praised the gallantry of officers of the 81 Division of the Nigerian Army who foiled an attempted attack on one of the universities in Lagos.”

Referring to the operation that led to “the arrest of the Boko Haram suspects by the military operatives, the governor maintained that the security apparatus of the state has strategies in place to forestall any threat to the peace that exists in Lagos.”

Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu at the 74th United Nations General Assembly [Twitter/@jidesanwoolu] Pulse Nigeria

Omotoso assured citizens that Governor Sanwo-Olu “will continue to provide the equipment and resources that are necessary to fortify the security machinery of the state,” maintaining that “Lagos remains safe and residents should maintain peaceful co-existence with one another."

Dialling emergency numbers

Governor Sanwo-Olu is also appealing to “Lagosians to complement the efforts of the security agencies by being observant, always,” and report “any influx of unfamiliar people to law enforcement agencies because security is the responsibility of all.”

Gov Sanwo-Olu receives the GOC, 81 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major Gen. J.O Irefin in his office in September 2019 (Twitter: @Jidesanwoolu) Pulse Nigeria

The governor is also encouraging Lagosians to report “unusual movements” to “the Lagos state government through its emergency toll-free lines – 767 or 112.”

A never ending war

Boko Haram, which commenced a bloody war against the Nigerian state in 2009, has mainly restricted its operations and bombing campaigns to the north and middle belt regions of the country.

Lagos is perched on the southern fringes where Boko Haram attacks are not commonplace, even though there have been scaremongering reports of attacks by the terrorist sect in some southern Nigerian cities in the past.

Soldiers take the battle to Boko Haram militants in the northern deserts of Nigeria (AFP) AFP

Boko Haram seeks to carve a hard-line Islamic state in the north of Nigeria--one that would shut out western education.

Successive Nigerian presidents have been battling the decade-long insurgency which has led to the deaths of some 50,000 people, displaced millions and resulted in the abduction of hundreds.