U.S Embassy denies alerting citizens of imminent terror attack in Abuja

The United States’ Embassy in Nigeria yesterday denied sending out a message widely circulated in the social media, alerting citizens of an imminent attack by the Boko Haram sect in Abuja.

The Embassy’s Counsellor for Public Affairs, Victoria Sloan, while addressing a three-day retreat organised for State House correspondents in Kaduna, disowned the message, explaining that if the Embassy had stumbled on such intelligence, it would have posted it on its website.

The message as being circulated claimed that the Ameri­can envoy had alerted citizens that three bomb-laden cars had been parked in different locations in Abuja but was unsure who could be the targets of the terrorists.

The message reads, “Please, stay safe especially those in Abuja. I just got this now from a friend and see no harm in sharing:

“For those who stay in Abuja or those who have rela­tives there, please read this:

“American ambassador called and emailed all Ameri­cans to tell them to stay in­doors, three cars in Abuja loaded with bombs planted in different areas. We are yet to know their targets. Pass the message please.”

But Sloan maintained that there was no truth in the message, calling on the media to help to refute the claim as “The ambassador did not send the message, the mission or the US government did not send the message.”

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