The United States of America (USA) on Friday told President Goodluck Jonathan, that the  explosion in the Apapa area of Lagos State, South West Nigeria could actually be attributed to activities of a terrorist gang.

The US intelligence experts in Lagos revealed this to President Jonathan in a report, which our Correspondent sighted.

The US said it has already warned its citizens of a planned suicide attack in Lagos. “There is plan by terrorists to launch a deadly attack on one or two densely populated spots in Lagos. Sheraton Hotels Lagos, Nigeria’s main commercial hub which attracts many foreign business people and which so far has been spared by the country’s violent Islamist militants, may have been slated as one of the targets.”

A competent security source also told our Correspondent that President Goodluck Jonathan has been briefed about the true position of the Apapa blast. The source said, Jonathan who had cut-short his African Union (AU) head of governments meeting in Equatorial Guinea, made a brief stop in Lagos to get briefing on the blast at Apapa.

It was gathered that the Nigerian leader was told by the US operatives that a warning to this effect has been issued since April, 2014.

It was also gathered that seven persons were confirmed dead on the spot following  the blast. The group also told Jonathan that investigation after the blast had revealed that a female suicide bomber might have carried out the attack.

“We would not also understand the rationale why Nigerian agents are hiding casualty figures from the public. Seven persons died in the blast and their corpses were hurriedly taken away by Nigerian agents.

“We were reliably informed that a lady dressed in Hijab had fled the scene after perhaps detonating the IED and entered a car that was parked strategically at Alex Junction. Minutes after the first explosion occurred, the second one happened at that same junction”, our source said.

Nigeria is grappling with increasing violent Islamist insurgency that has killed thousands in the past five years. Two recent bomb attacks on the outskirts of the capital Abuja have heightened security concerns in the country

Speaking to newsmen after the incident, Ngozi Braide, the Lagos State Police Spokesperson, would rather attribute the blast to a tanker conveying petrol. “There is nothing whatsoever suggesting that it was a bomb explosion, it was a tanker loaded with fuel that burst into flames,” Ms. Braide said. “Policemen are on ground there now and we cannot yet ascertain the casualty figures. But everything is under control,” she added.

Also speaking, Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Mr. Kehinde Adebayo, who responded on behalf of the Managing Director, Dr. Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, confirmed to journalists that the loud noise accompanied by the fire explosion is “from a tanker loaded with fuel.”

He said men of the LASEMA are now attending to that explosion and fire on the scene of the incident, and have found that it is not a bomb blast. He however, could also not immediately tell whether or not there were casualties, as the men were still making frantic efforts to contain the fire. The explosion had caused many residents to panic, fearing the loud explosion might be a bomb blast.

Similarly, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), also attributed the cause of the fire to a gas cylinder explosion. Ibrahim Farinloye, NEMA Spokesperson, South-West, said that the explosion occurred about 9:15 p.m. “People were reported to be filling gas into the cylinder before it exploded,” Mr. Farinloye said in a text message.

Incidentally, the Apapa explosion happened less that eight hours a blast had killed some 24 persons at a Plaza in Abuja, the Nigeria seat of power.  Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which is fighting to carve an Islamic state out of religiously mixed Nigeria, had hitherto concentrated it activities to the northeast, although it has struck across the north and in Nigeria’s capital, in the centre, but Lagos has been least target but now it is clear the group is everywhere.

The group has never attacked Lagos, a sprawling city of 21 million people, although its leader Abubakar Shekau had threatened to do so.

“As of late April, groups associated with terrorism allegedly planned to mount an unspecified attack against the Sheraton Hotel in Nigeria, near the city of Lagos,” the State Department said late on Friday.

“There was no further information regarding which of the two Sheraton Hotels in Lagos was the possible target, until the group hit Apapa. There is no further information regarding the timing, method and spot of next attack.”

The report however cautioned US citizens to avoid the hotels. The Sheraton brand is owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Lagos is more frequently visited by foreign business people than Abuja, the seat of Nigeria’s government, although oil executives often visit the capital to cut deals.

The US has already offered to help Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer and one of the most vital US strategic allies in Africa, in its search for the schoolgirls. Britain has also offered support, although neither has given specifics.

“The kidnapping of hundreds of children by Boko Haram is an unconscionable crime and we will do everything possible to support the Nigerian government to return these young women to their homes and to hold the perpetrators to justice,” US secretary of State John Kerry said in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa recently.

In an Africa policy address to members of the Addis Ababa diplomatic corps and the Young Africa leader network recently, America’s top diplomat highlighted crises in Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia and the Central African Republic and urged Africans to demand stability and financial development, and said the US is ready to help increase its ties with Africa but nations across the continent need to take stronger steps to ensure security and democracy for its people.