Yobe School Bombing: How Suicide Bomber Executed Attack

The Bomb victims being treated

In the aftermath of the suicide bomber’s attack on the Government Senior Science Secondary School in Yobe, which claimed over 40 lives, questions have emerged about how the bomber was able to carry out the attack.

A teacher at the school has revealed some answers to these questions. In an interview with Leadership Newspaper, the teacher who spoke on condition of anonymity revealed that the bomber was dressed in the black and white school uniform of the school, and was dropped off by an unidentified car at 7:30am on Tuesday morning. Here is his account:

Many of us sighted him as he was dropped off by the car and watched how he confidently walked up to the assembly ground pretending to be one of the students. But unfortunately, he was immediately spotted by one of the duty teachers who noticed his odd appearance amongst other students, by carrying a bag to the assembly ground, even though the school is a boarding school.

The teacher on duty called his attention, asking him why he had to bring his bag to the assembly ground, but the bomber remained silent, ignoring the teacher. His attitude towards the teacher drew the attention of other students who milled around him to find out who he was. The teacher then moved closer to him, thinking he might be a new student on transfer since most of the students could not recognise him.

The teacher and some of the senior prefects who were not pleased with the rudeness of the fake student who continued to ignore the teacher, decided to force him to kneel down.

It was during the process of asking him to observe the punishment of kneeling down that the explosive in the bag went off and unfortunately killed many of the students including the teacher who had inched closer to the scene to see what was happening…

I thank God that I am alive; but the deafening sound of the bomb affected my auditory system for several hours…even from the distance that I stood before the blast, I found myself sprawling on the ground after the blast; that made me believe that the blast might have come from a huge explosive device…”

This is so inhumane. Our condolences go out to all the families, victims and all those affected by this unfortunate incident.