by Oge Okonkwo

A young man, identified as Dada Ajibo from Niger Republic, has been arrested by the police for attempted arson on Tuesday.

Dada was caught under a golf car parked at a filling station in Akowonjo while trying set a car ablaze with a lighter to cause an explosion.

On witnessing the incident, the residents were thrown into panic in the area as they thought Ajibo might be a member a member of the terrorist group, Boko Haram, bombing and killing people in northern Nigeria.

PM News reports:

Ajibo was arrested and detained at Gowon Estate Police Division where he is being interrogated for allegedly attempting to set the filling station ablaze, along with three other accomplices now at large.

The middle aged man was found under a red Volkswagen Golf car with a  razor blade and lighter beside Oando Filing Station located at 170, Akowonjo road by Cele bus stop, Akowonjo.

While he was attempting to cut the fuel pipe with the blade under the car, the residents who suspected him alerted a mobile policeman guarding a nearby bank who arrested him.

The policeman found on him two Niger Republic passports, a razor blade and a lighter. This gave rise to suspicion by the residents that he wanted to cause explosion and destruction in the area.

The manager of the Oando filing Station where the incident happened, Mr Rabiu Omoniyi, said that the man went under a parked Golf car without the knowledge of the owner with lighter and a blade, ostensibly to burn the car which could have set the filing station and other companies around the area ablaze.

The policeman who arrested him said when the suspect attempted to escape, he threatened to shoot him, which made him to stop running.

He said he alerted the DPO at Gowon Estate who sent his men to take him to the station.

“He confessed that he was an illegal immigrant from Niger Republic,” the policeman said.

When P.M.NEWS correspondent visited Gowon Estate Police Division, the DPO was not around to comment on the matter.

However, a police source comfirmed the arrest and said that the police have commenced investigation on the matter.

The golf car under which the suspect was found with a razor blade and lighter

The suspect was detained in the cell with his name written on the board as illegal immigrant.

A human rights activist, Commrade Babatunde Ashafa, said that Lagos residents should be more vigilant and report any suspicious movement in their area to the police to forstal any danger.

He said that the Boko Haram sect have scattered after they were dislodged in the north and there is possibility that they have entered Lagos, recalling that 42 members of the sect were arrested recently by soldiers in the state.

Ashafa also called on the security agencies to collaborate more with the citizens and human rights groups in the state to ensure that the citizens are protected.