Vice President Namadi Sambo on Thursday described the Abuja blast that claimed 21 lives as a cowardly and unjust act that would be defeated soon.
Sambo said this when he paid an on-the-spot assessment to the EMAB Plaza scene of the blast.
President Goodluck Jonathan had been away to Equatorial Guinea where he was attending the 23rd Ordinary Session of the African Union’s Summit of Heads of State and Government in Malabo.
Although the President had been scheduled to return to the country on Friday, Presidency sources said he was being expected back as of the time of this report on Thursday.
Sambo assured all Nigerians that the Federal Government would continue to do its best to ensure that peace returned to all troubled parts of the country.
He urged residents of the Federal Capital Territory to go about their normal activities without fear.
The Vice President said, “This cowardly, unjust act will be defeated; evil can never be sustained. Insha Allah, this administration and Mr. President is not going to leave any stone unturned until we defeat these terrorists.
“Terrorism cannot survive in Nigeria or in any part of this country. We are doing everything; we are putting everything in place to ensure that within the shortest possible time, this will become a thing of the past.
“I want to assure all Nigerians that the government is doing everything to ensure safety of lives and property of all Nigerians and our visitors. I want to seize this opportunity to call on all Nigerians to be very vigilant and observance in reporting any suspicious act that they see.
“I want to also urge us to go back to our normal duties, our normal services and to cooperate with the administration so that we will all jointly succeed in solving this problem.”
From the scene of the blast, Sambo moved to the Maitama General Hospital where he commiserated with some of the injured victims of the blast.
He was at the hospital at a time family members and professional colleagues of the Managing Editor (North) of the New Telegraph, Mr. Suleiman Bisallah, who died in the blast, were around to retrieve the corpse for burial, according to Islamic rites.
Sambo later returned to the Presidential Villa, Abuja where he met briefly behind closed-doors with the Minister of FCT, Bala Muhammed; Minister of State, FCT, Olajumoke Akinjide; Minister of Interior, Aba Moro; and the Minister of State, Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro.
Most of the ministers joined him on the visit to the scene of the blast and the hospital.
Source: Punch
