The simultaneous explosions occurred late Friday evening, local time, in the towns of Nyanya and Kuje on the outskirts of Abuja, an official from Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency said in a statement. In April 2014, Joshua released a YouTube video claiming he also predicted Boko Haram’s last attack in Nyanya, Abuja which left 88 dead and over 200 injured.
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However, hospital sources in Abuja told Anadolu Agency that the number of casualties was higher, one pegging it at 27.
There are reports of a third blast Jukwoyi Bus Station after the Nyanya Bridge, another suburb in the city.
APC appealed to Nigerians to be vigilant since Boko Haram members who have been smoked out of their strongholds may be seeking refuge elsewhere across the country.
“Preliminary investigations revealed the bomb blasts were carried out by two suicide bombers, a male and a female”, a police spokesman reported.
A statement by the president’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said Buhari expressed this after receiving a briefing from a fact-finding team sent to the parts of the Federal Capital territory affected by Friday’s bomb attacks.
Boko Haram are being scattered and are on the run, he said.
Chonoko said that another blast, that earlier took place in Kuje Area council of the FCT near a police station, also recorded 13 dead and 20 injured.
“We are not sure whether the terrorists are planning to invade the town but the sound vibrating is devastating”, said Kursi Yusuf, an employee at the University of Maiduguri.
The president gave the Nigerian military up to November to end the insurgency that has killed over 20000 people since 2009.
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No group has claimed responsibility but the attack is similar to others by Boko Haram, Nigeria’s home-grown Islamic extremist group. The Abuja blasts came a day after at least 10 people were killed when four suicide bombers blew themselves up Maiduguri, the restive capital of Borno state and 11 villagers died in neighbouring Adamawa state.
