ABUJA (Reuters) - A man armed with grenades and several rounds of ammunition was stopped as he tried to enter a government building in the capital Abuja where two ministers were giving a news conference on Monday, a government security officer said.
"We arrested him with black bags containing three hand grenades and 37 live munitions. We snatched the bag from him at the gate as he was entering the compound," Akindele James, security officer in charge of the building, told Reuters.
"We handed him over to police."
Aviation Minister Stella Oduah and Youth Minister Bolaji Abdullahi were talking to reporters in the building at the time.
Radio House is home to the Information Ministry, state radio and another government funded station called Voice of Nigeria. It is often used for government news conferences.
Police spokesMAN (MAN.XE)Frank Mba identified the man as John Akpapu, a Christian name, suggesting he is not a Muslim as are the fighters of Islamist sect Boko Haram, a group waging an insurgency against Nigeria's government.
He said the man was being questioned but did not have any further details.
Boko Haram last month turned its sights on the media it sees as pro-government, with a suicide car bomb attack on the offices of Nigerian newspaper This Day in Abuja, a paper broadly supportive of President Goodluck Jonathan's administration.
Boko Haram often attacks targets with automatic weapons or homemade explosives, though the sect is not known for using regular military grenades.
There was a bomb scare at the police headquarters in Abuja on Monday, although Mba said a man was arrested with no bomb, just a bag containing some broken bottles, a vehicle license plate, ATM cards and an umbrella.
"So far there is nothing to establish that this man is a bomber," he said.
(Reporting by Mike Oboh and Camillus Eboh; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Diana Abdallah)
