[Mhiz Rebecca]

The police authorities in Abuja have foiled suspected
attempts by a notorious militant group, operating from the
creeks of Ikorodu and Arepo areas of Lagos and Ogun States,
to bomb the Third Mainland Bridge, the longest bridge in
West Africa.
The Guardian gathered yesterday that a top commander of the
group, Abiodun Amos, who is also known as Senti, an Ijaw
native of Arugbo, from Ese-Odo Local Council of Ondo State,
was arrested by operatives of the Inspector General of Police
Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT).
The suspect, who was also said to be the group’s chief expert
in explosives, was trailed to a riverbank at the Majidu area of
Ikorodu, Lagos.Sources disclosed that two AK47 rifles, hidden
in a ‘Ghana-Must-Go’ bag, were found in his possession at the
time of his arrest, while he led the IRT operatives to a vehicle
parked discreetly within Ikorodu, where a large cache of
dynamite and detonators were recovered from its boot.
The intelligence, which was generated by the office of the
National Security Adviser (NSA), was passed on to the
Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, indicating that the
group was at its final stage of carrying out an attack on the
Third Mainland Bridge.
The IGP, who was said to be dazed by the report, swiftly
directed his operatives at the IRT, led by Abba Kyari, an
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), to commence a full-
scale investigation and it was discovered afterwards that the
group was actually planning to blow up the bridge at the end
of November 2016.
Further investigation revealed that the group had acquired
large quantities of dynamite and several other explosives,
which would be used for the attack.
Meanwhile, in October 2016, the group, which has no known
identity and was notorious for pipeline vandalism, kidnapping
and bank robberies, had demanded amnesty, threatening to
disrupt economic activities within Lagos and Ogun States if the
Federal Government does not dialogue with them and
grant them pipeline protection contracts.
The leader of the militant group, known as General Ossy Ibori,
who had in recent time coordinated most of the bank
robberies and several high-profile kidnappings, including those
of three school girls, at Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary
School in Ikorodu, four landlords at Isheri North Area of Lagos,
Oniba of Ibaland, Oba Goriola Oseni, and several others,
within the Lagos and Ogun states axis, boasted that his group
has over 21 generals commanding 7,800 battle-ready boys.
When newsmen interviewed the 43-year-old suspect, he
confessed that his militant group was formerly into pipeline
vandalism but they resorted into kidnapping when it became
difficult for them to vandalize and sell their stolen petroleum
products.
According to him: “We went into bank robberies and
kidnapping because we wanted to get government attention
and all we wanted was for them to grant us amnesty and also
offer us pipeline protection contract. We have made several
appeals and the government is not listening to us.
“General Ossy said if we don’t blow up the Third Mainland
Bridge, government would not listen to us. We had concluded
plans and we decided to carry out the attack in November
ending. I am the group’s explosive expert and before I was
arrested we were going into the creek to conclude plans on
how to carry out the attack,” he said.