IDPs defy bomb attack to vote in Maiduguri

An early morning attack into the Teachers Village of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp, Maiduguri, did not deter the people from coming out to exercise their franchise.

The bomb, according to an IDP, Umar Garba, landed between two shelters at about 6am, “but did not cause any damage.”

It penetrated the earth surface and then flew up out of the camp, Daily Trust reports.

Garba said: “The child with whom I was walking fell down in the dust, but we soon after rose without any injury and walked away; the rocket did not cause any damage in the camp.”

Amazingly determined to cast their votes, the hundreds of the IDPs told Daily Trust that any rocket launched into the camp will never deter them from queuing to vote.

“Unless a mortar fired on the camp kills all of us, nothing will stop us from coming to queue up and vast our votes ” an IDP, Ibrahim Usman, assured.

It could not immediately be determined whether the mortar belonged to the military or the insurgents.

The Police commissioner in Borno state had said the sound of bomb in the early hours of Saturday was from the security forces.