FG: ISWAP behind Ondo church attack

The National Security Council has disclosed that the Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) terrorists were behind the last Sunday’s attack on St Francis Catholic Church in Owo, the headquarters of Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State.

The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, made the disclosure while speaking to State House correspondents shortly after the council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Thursday.

Aregbesola spoke in the company of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba.

The Ondo State Commissioner for Health, Dr Banji Ajaka, had in a statement issued on Wednesday, said as of Tuesday midnight, the state government’s record showed that those affected by the attack are 127 while 40 were confirmed dead.

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However, Aregbesola, while speaking to newsmen said security agencies are closing in on the ISWAP terrorists through their traces.

The minister added that the National Security Council has directed security operatives to hunt those behind the killing of Deborah Samuel, a student who was killed for alleged blasphemy in Sokoto State, and a more recent case in Abuja.

Those who attended the security meeting were Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, and the National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Monguno (retd.).

Others included the Chief of Defense Staff, General Lucky Irabor; Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Farouk Yahaya; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo; and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Amao.

Also in attendance were the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Alkali Usman; the Director-General of the Department of State Service (DSS), Yusuf Bichi; and the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Abubakar.