Plan to bomb Abuja is real - US insists •UK condemns Boko Haram over Yobe, Borno attacks

IN an apparent reaction to a statement  by the Nigerian authorities  asking Nigerians not to lose any sleep over the United States’ warning on Sunday that there were plans by the Boko Haram sect to bomb some hotels in Abuja, the US  declared on Tuesday that its warning was based on a piece of specific and credible information, stressing that the threat was real.
An American diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity told Agence France Presse (AFP) on Tuesday that the US would not disclose where the information regarding potential attacks by Boko Haram originated from, but said the US embassy had no choice but to warn its citizens.
Its unusually specific warning was issued in the wake of Friday’s coordinated gun and bomb attacks in Nigeria’s northeast claimed by Boko Haram that left some 150 people dead and was among the deadliest attributed to the group.
“We certainly took it very seriously,” the diplomat said of the information included in its advisory.
“Given the specificity and the credibility of the threat, we really felt we had no choice but to give our best counsel to Americans.”
Security has been placed on high alert in Abuja and no incidents have occurred. Abuja was last hit in August, when a suicide bomber attacked the United Nations (UN) headquarters, killing 24 people.
Nigerian authorities had described the US warning about potential Abuja attacks “not news.” Media reports on Tuesday quoted a senior security chief who called the US warning “insulting to us as a nation.”
“The current threat of attack on the three hotels in Abuja is not news, and for over three months the security services have taken pro-active measures to protect the designated critical facilities and others,” National Security Adviser Andrew Azazi said in a statement on Monday.
Meanwhile, the British government on Tuesday came hard on the Boko Haram sect and its sponsors over the massacre of scores of people in Borno and Yobe states last Friday.
The British government, through the Foreign Office Minister, Henry Bellingham, while condemning last weekend's attacks in Yobe and Borno states also offered condolences to the families of the victims.
The condemnation and condolences were conveyed in a statement sent by the Press Secretary, British High Commission, Abuja, Hooman Nouruzi, via email to diplomatic correspondents in Abuja.
In the statement, the foreign minister said he was saddened to hear of the brutal attacks.
He also condemned those who carried out the attacks.
 Source