A man lost four sons to the Monday multiple explosions that rocked Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, it was learnt yesterday.

The blasts, which occurred at the gate of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), the Monday Market roundabout and the Post Office area, left about 27 people dead and many others injured.

A trader, Usman Lawan, yesterday narrated how his neighbour, Ba Musa, who lives at Gwange Sabon Layi, lost four sons to the incident.

He said the deceased children were caught up in the explosion when they went to buy eyeglasses for the Sallah celebration.

Speaking to our correspondent during Vice President Kashim Shettima’s visit to the UMTH, he said: “We finished our Iftar, and I was pushing my fruit-cart when the blast happened, I just found myself at the hospital. I lost everything to that attack.

“He bought them new clothes and shoes, and they came to our place to buy eyeglasses for Sallah celebrations. The blast killed all of them. They were buried yesterday,” he said.

A security guard at the hospital, who sustained injuries on his arms and legs, told the BBC how the incident unfolded.

“I was sitting outside the hospital when three people arrived on a motorbike. I noticed something suspicious and asked them to leave. They returned a second time, and when I refused to let them in, they threw a food container at me. It hit my hand and fell to the ground, threatening to explode. I lay down and heard a loud noise. As I tried to run inside, another container exploded and struck my leg,” he said.

“The bomb went off outside the hospital like a palm tree. Many others died,” he added.

Another survivor, a woman who lost her daughter in the blast, said: “We had just arrived at the hospital when the bomb went off. I fell, and my daughter fell lifeless. Her head exploded. They brought me inside and told me she was gone. I prayed to God because He took her. Her father died when she was five months old.”

Petty traders caught in the multiple bomb blasts also spoke to Daily Trust from their hospital beds in Maiduguri.

Some of them were admitted at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), Specialist Hospital and Umaru Shehu Hospital, Maiduguri.

“Unless something is done to help us get our businesses back on track, most of us will be frustrated even when we recover,” said one of the traders, Alhaji Bashir, who is a patient at UMTH.

“Like this my friend, he relies solely on daily sales to feed his family, and suddenly this thing happened to him. Think about his family and his other responsibilities as a father.

“Now the blasts, in a few minutes destroyed his life savings and livelihood,” he said.

A petty trader, who visited his colleagues at the hospital, said: “We used to sell the goods and return their money after making gains. That was how I struggled to stand on our own. So, it will be very difficult for these people to recover unless help comes from the government.”

He appealed to the state and federal government to provide capital for the surviving traders to give them a new lease of life.

ACF demands overhaul of national security strategies

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has called for a total overhaul of national security strategies.

It made the call while reacting to the Monday explosions. In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Prof. T. A. Muhammad-Baba, the ACF sought a decisive and forceful escalation in the fight against insecurity, urging authorities to prioritise action over politics.

The forum stressed that more effort must be directed at exterminating the scourge of insecurity, extremism, and banditry across the country.

It also warned that continued politicking in the face of worsening violence undermines national security, insisting that the situation demands urgent and uncompromising intervention.

According to the ACF, only demonstrable force backed by strong political will can effectively confront what it described as “terror merchants” operating in different parts of the country. It maintained that authorities must adopt firm, coordinated measures to root out criminal elements wherever they exist.

It emphasised that anything short of decisive action risks emboldening perpetrators and prolonging the crisis, saying the current response by authorities appears timid in the face of escalating threats.

He cautioned that propaganda cannot mask the severity of the situation, warning that failure to urgently tackle insecurity could push the nation toward widespread anarchy.

He urged government at all levels to abandon what it described as ineffective tactics and act decisively to restore order, stressing that the time for action is now.

The forum said it was particularly saddened by the recent insecurity incidents in Borno State and Plateau State, noting that similar attacks had earlier been recorded in Katsina, Kwara, Niger and Zamfara states.

These attacks, ACF said, have further worsened the already alarming security situation, adding to what it described as grim and growing statistics of violence across the country.

“The totality of the sordid incidents suggests a coordinated strategy by extremist terror merchants intent on disrupting the semblance of normality that communities have been managing. The cowardly attacks have remained hallmarks of tactics employed by Boko Haram, religious extremists, insurgents and criminals, as even they themselves are wont to admit and brag about.

“For the umpteenth time, ACF regrets that such attacks could be carried out so brazenly. Doubtless, the attacks are rude reminders that the fight against terrorism and insurgency in Nigeria has been ineffective and not reassuring, given the display of crude capacity to wreck misery on hapless communities,” he said.

“ACF warns, as indeed obvious to all, that Nigeria faces a potent existential threat consequent to the spate of incidents of insecurity, against the apparent timid response by concerned political authorities. No officious hubris, sterile public propaganda can whitewash the situation.

“Unless the pervasive insecurity problem is confronted soonest, Nigeria risks a catastrophic and dangerous slide into avoidable widespread anarchy and anomie. The authorities must abandon the seeming proverbial Russian Roulette tactics in confronting the problem heads on.

“The time for decisive action is now!”

Nothing justifies killing of innocent people – Shettima

Vice President Kashim Shettima has restated the federal government’s resolve to defeat terrorism, declaring that those behind recent attacks in the country will be decisively confronted.

He said beyond the presidential directive to security chiefs, the federal government was investing more in equipment and other logistics to boost the fight against terrorism across the country.

Shettima spoke on Wednesday in Maiduguri, when he visited victims of the bomb blast who are receiving treatment at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.

The vice president described the perpetrators as barbaric, stressing that no cause justifies the killing of innocent people.

He said his visit was to sympathise with the injured and families affected by the tragedy, assuring of government’s support through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the North East Development Commission and the Borno State Government.

Shettima was accompanied by Borno State Deputy Governor Usman Kadafur; NEMA Director-General, Zubaida Umar; Chief Medical Director of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Professor Ahmed Ahijo and other top government officials.

Borno, Yobe people must take ownership of the crisis – CDS

The Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede, said ending the Boko Haram insurgency requires involvement of Borno and Yobe people.

He said this in Maiduguri, Borno State capital, when he, alongside the Chief of Army Staff, General Waidi Shaibu, relocated to Maiduguri, on the directive of President Bola Tinubu, to take direct charge of the situation in the state.

Addressing North-East residents, Oluyede said, “I want to put it clearly this afternoon that for us to end this act of terrorism, the people of Borno State and Yobe must take ownership of this problem.

“Bulk of people perpetrating this heinous act are from these states, they are our brothers, sisters, cousins and we know them.

“For example, when Kukawa was attacked, and we were conducting cordon and search afterward, we realised that two of the people that came to attack Kukawa were those inside that village. That means they are accomplices,” he said.

He said to bring the Boko Haram crisis to an end, all hands must be on deck and the communities must resolve that the situation should come to an end.

“We must take ownership of this crisis. That is my message to the people of Yobe and Borno,” he insisted.

On terrorists using drones and advanced technology in attacking the military bases and civilians locations, he said, “it’s something that is evolving, and we are responding with German drones and we are getting more of the drones.”

Group alleges plot to undermine 2027 polls

The Arewa Discussion Group (ADG) also condemned the rising wave of terrorist attacks and mass killings across northern Nigeria, warning of a possible plot to destabilise the region ahead of the 2027 general elections.

In a statement by its spokesman, Dr. Garba Abari, the group expressed shock over recent incidents, including a massacre in Zamfara State where at least 50 civilians were killed in Bukkuyum Local Government Area during coordinated attacks on February 20–21.

It also cited the killing of worshipers during Tarawweeh prayers in Kebbi State on February 25 as well as the March 16 bombings in Maiduguri that left over 20 people dead and more than 100 injured.

The group said the violence reflects a broader pattern of insecurity across the North, pointing to attacks in Bauchi State, Benue State, Plateau State, Kwara State and Niger State, where communities have suffered killings, abductions and mass displacement.

According to the ADG, large swathes of the region are now under the control of criminal non-state actors who operate freely, displace populations, and disrupt economic activities, particularly farming.

The group warned that the scale and coordination of the attacks suggest a deliberate attempt to create fear and instability that could be exploited to suppress voter turnout and manipulate the electoral process in 2027.

It further expressed concern over what it described as the erosion of state authority, noting that armed groups now confront security forces directly and, in some cases, overrun communities and military positions.

The ADG called on the federal government to urgently deploy stronger security measures, dismantle criminal enclaves, and end what it termed weak responses to banditry and terrorism.

It also urged authorities to investigate possible political links to the attacks, provide humanitarian support to displaced persons, and safeguard the integrity of future elections.

The group stressed that failure to act decisively could deepen insecurity and further threaten Nigeria’s democratic stability.

Troops repel attack, kill 80 terrorists in Borno

In a related development, troops of the Operation HADIN KAI neutralised more than 80 terrorists following an overnight battle in Mallam Fatori, Borno.

The troops, under the Joint Task Force (North East), repelled a coordinated five-pronged attack launched by insurgents on the 68 Battalion location in Sector 3 in the early hours of Wednesday.

The military in its operational report made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, revealed that the attackers advanced in large numbers on foot and deployed armed drones.

The report said the terrorists attempted to breach defensive positions, particularly along the Bravo Company frontage from the Duguri axis.

According to the report, troops, who had prior intelligence of the assault, mounted a well-coordinated offensive-defensive response, engaging the insurgents with superior firepower and tactical manoeuvre.

“The attackers were overwhelmed, disrupted and forced to retreat in disarray, leaving behind heavy casualties.

“Air support from the Air Component of OPHK, alongside allied Nigerien air assets, provided precision strikes that further decimated the fleeing insurgents.

“A subsequent sweep of the battlefield led to the recovery of a large cache of arms and ammunition, including dozens of AK-47 rifles, machine guns, RPG launchers, improvised explosive devices and components of armed drones.”

The report further revealed that in spite of the intensity of the encounter, only four soldiers were wounded in action and have since been stabilised, while battle damage assessment was ongoing.

“Notably, three senior terrorist commanders—Malam Abdulrahman Gobara, Malam Ba Yuram and Abou Ayyuba—were among those killed, alongside several other fighters”, the military said.

The report described the outcome as a major setback for insurgent operations in the axis, noting that the elimination of key commanders would significantly disrupt their command structure.

It reaffirmed that troops remain in firm control of Mallam Fatori and surrounding areas, and dismissing claims of setbacks as misinformation.

It urged residents to remain vigilant and rely only on verified information as operations continue in the North-East. (Daily Trust, but headline reworked)

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