The Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Kaduna State, Rev. John Hayab, has said the cloud hovering over the identity of the bombing suspect arrested while attempting to blow up a Winners’ Chapel Parish in Kaduna State on Sunday “justifies the US decision to place visa restrictions on Nigerians. The US Government told us that one of the reasons for the visa ban was that Nigeria do not do proper background checks on people.”
Hayab told the Punch on Monday that the suspect had identified himself as Mohammed Sani when he was apprehended by the church but after he was handed over to the police, the suspect’s name suddenly changed to Samuel Nathaniel.
“So, a criminal can go to one part of Kaduna and bear John, travel to another part of the state and bear Abdullahi or Oluwole or Emeka and nobody will know.”
The mix-up in the name of the suspect had further given credence to the claims by the United States that Nigeria remained a terrorist-prone country because of a lack of database, Hayab said.
He however said there was a need for the matter to be thoroughly investigated.
He said, “The church was in session when the young man came in, dropped his bag and exited as if he was going to the toilet, but didn’t come back in time. Some church members became suspicious. The church had put security measures in place such that they monitor everything going on in the church and they even have CCTV cameras.
“They discovered that what was in the bag looked like explosives, so they called the police. Let me state clearly that it was not the police that arrested him. It was the church that arrested him and then handed him over to the police.
“The police came to pick him up at the church. At the time he was interrogated at the church, he told the church that his name was Mohammed Sani, but when he was handed over to the police, the police told everyone that his name was Samuel Nathaniel.
“I don’t care what his name is. All I know is that a criminal wanted to blow up a church and kill people. The police should find out who his sponsors are and not play politics with names. Last week, a man was paraded by the police for faking his kidnap and identified as a pastor, only for us to find out he was never a pastor.”
The cleric added that it was curious that the attempted bombing took place at the same time CAN’s rally against terrorism was taking place.
But the church would not be intimidated by anyone, he assured.
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