The students who were dressed in hijab (Islamic apparel for women) were returning to resume school when some members of the public at Central mosque Minna raised alarm that the two ladies were suspected to be suicide bombers.
TheNation reports that an eyewitness said the two victims who were dressed covering all their bodies
and faces were trying to walk across the frontage of the mosque when the jumat prayers were about to be said. Their mode of dressing and the bags they were carrying attracted the attention of other worshippers and this led to the raising of alarm but for Police intervention the two ladies would have been lynched to death. One of the victims was injured by the irate crowd and she is currently receiving treatment from Police Clinic in Minna.
When contacted Niger State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ibrahim Gambari confirmed the incident but said that the two victims were wrongly accused.
“When the attention of our men on duty was drawn to the ladies, they were subjected to bodily search and their bags also whisked and nothing incriminating were found on them. We were able to establish that the two of them are returning students of FUT Minna. Their mode of dressing made people to suspect them.
It took the timely intervention of our men as members of the public had started to beat up one of the ladies leading to the point of sustaining some injuries and she is being treated at the Police Clinic,” Gambari state.
The Police spokesman, who decried the mob action of members of the public, advised that Police should be allowed to do their work after complaint must have been lodged. According to the PPRO:
“The crowd that came round when the ladies were been searched would have been affected should the suspects be suicide bombers and were carrying bombs”.
The students are still been kept in Police custody.
