Kaduna, the North’s political capital, recovered yesterday from the hangover of the Easter Sunday suicide bombing to start counting its losses. Scores died and many others are hospitalised.
But the violence that dampened the Easter celebration continued yesterday, with the Islamist sect, Boko Haram launching attacks in Yobe and Borno states.Seven people were confirmed dead in the attacks. The sect attaked Dikwa, a Borno town, setting ablaze a police station, a bank and a hotel.
An attempt to raze down the local government secretariat was repelled.
In Potiskum, Yobe State, a seven-year-old girl was shot dead during a failed attempt to kill her policeman father hours after the group’s members killed three in a separate raid, the army and the police said.
They fired shots into the house of a police sergeant in the northeastern town of Potiskum late Sunday, police spokesman Toyin Gbadegesin said.
“They fired shots at him while sitting in the midst of his family. He managed to avoid the bullets and scaled over the fence,” Gbadegesin said.
“The gunmen shot dead his seven-year-old-daughter and seriously injured another 12-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old-son who are now in hospital.”
In a separate attack in the northeastern town of Dikwa around 1:30 am, Boko Haram gunmen killed a policeman, a civilian and a local politician in co-ordinated attacks, the army said.
The attackers targeted a police station, a bank and a hotel but were repelled by army troops, according to Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa, spokesman of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Borno State.
“Three Boko Haram terrorists were killed and many escaped with bullet wounds,” Lt.-Col. Musa said.
Among those killed in the siege on the town that lasted for over an hour, were a former council boss, Alhaji Babagana Ali Karim; a police Sergeant and a civilian whose names were not revealed.
It was also gathered that the military had to be deployed from nearby military facilities before the siege could be smashed and three members of the sect were left dead and many others injured.
Confirming the attack in a statement in Maiduguri, Lt.-Col. Musa said “between 01:35 and 02:45 hours of Monday, suspected Boko Haran terrorists attacked and burnt Dikwa police station, Unity Bank, Freedom Hotel and attempted to burn Dikwa Local Government Secretariat. The JTF Forward Operating bases in Dikwa and Gamboru, the 202 Battalion and the Nigeria Police personnel in the area were all called to action before the militants could be repelled.”
Lt.-Col. Musa confirmed the killing of the former council boss, a police sergeant and a civilian. He said three sect members were killed by the military with many others escaping with bullet wounds.
Musa said items recovered include an unregistered Isuzu pick up van (milk coloured), a pump action gun, an AK47 rifle, a double barrel gun, a box loaded with assorted ammunition, 19 empty magazines of AK47 rifle, a bullet proof jacket, a crash helmet and a DVD player. The JTF spokesman claimed that normalcy had returned to the area.
The Borno State Police Command yesterday gave a cash reward of N500,000 to a man who gave out information that led to the smashing of a planned assassination of a clergyman.
Speaking during the presentation of cash to the man whose name was withheld for security reason, the Borno State Police Commissioner, Bala Hassan, said the informant gave the information that led to the arrest of two hoodlums and recovery of arms.
He urged the other residents of the town to borrow a leaf from the informant.
In another incident, two suspected Boko Haram members in a Peugeot 406 Saloon car with registration number AT 647 GWA shot sporadically into the air at about mid-day, scaring people off the streets of Maiduguri.
The shooting, which took place around Baga road and Hausari, caused pandemonium.
JTF spokesman Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa said the vehicle used by the sect members was stolen at gun point from a mechanic’s workshop.
He said the vehicle was ridden with bullets and that further information would be made available later.
There was confusion over the Kaduna casualty figure.
Commercial motorcyclists claimed they lost 100 members in the blast.
But the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said yesterday that only nine people were killed.
This is contrary to the figure of 38 dead given on Sunday by Abubakar Zakari Adamu, spokesman of the Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA).
Commissioner of Police Mohammed Abubakar Jingiri disputed the figures, saying only five persons died while 16 were injured. “The bomb explosion was massive, which resulted from the death of the suicide bomber and five persons with 16 people injured who were passers-by.”
The suicide bomber struck at the ever-busy Junction Road/ Sardauna Crescent near the Ahmadu Bello Stadium.
NEMA said besides the nine dead, 38 people were injured and taken to hospitals.
It also claimed that eight buildings, including a bank and two hotels, were shattered by the explosion. About 23 motor-cycles were damaged during the incident.
The agency gave the statistics in a stock-taking statement in Abuja by its Head of Public Relations, Alhaji Yushau A . Shuaib.
The statement said: “For the quick intervention of security personnel and emergency rescuers, more lives were saved from the suspected suicide explosion that occurred on Easter Sunday in Kaduna.
“The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) can authoritatively confirm nine deaths and 38 with varied degrees of injuries receiving treatment at various hospitals in Kaduna and Zaria.
“The figures were obtained after a joint rapid assessment by officials of the agency and the stakeholders which reveals that some of the injured persons that were initially presumed dead have since regained consciousness following their prompt evacuation and access to medical assistance.
“Alerts of the explosion had prompted the agency to immediately rally the stakeholders that deployed ambulances and para-medics in carrying out the quick intervention in the evacuation of the affected persons who were taken to the various medical facilities for necessary assistance. These included the Red Cross, Civil Defence, Kaduna SEMA, Police and the military. The medical facilities are: Barau Dikko Specialist Hospital, St Gerald Catholic Hospital, Rakiya Memorial, 44 Army Reference Hospital and ABUTH Zaria.
“The Director General NEMA, Alhaji Muhammad Sani Sidi, in prompt response to the situation has visited some of the hospitals where the victims are receiving treatment and promised adequate assistance for their recovery.
“Among other immediate impacts caused by the explosion were eight buildings, including a bank, two hotels, an eatery and commercial shops that were affected and about 23 motor cycles which were also damaged.”
The Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycle Owners and Riders Association in Kaduna State yesterday claimed that over 100 of its members died in the Easter Sunday suicide bomb explosion.
The association blamed the government for the seeming unending suicide bombings in the country. It denied that its members were involved in most of the criminal activities and bombings in the country.
Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycle Owners and Riders Association of Nigeria (ACOMORAN) Secretary General Nasir Mamman, told reporters that over 100 members of the association died in the blast. He urged the government to take concrete measures aimed at safeguarding the lives and property of citizens.
Mamman said an emergency meeting of all the officials of the association in the state had been called to take proper statistics of the dead.
He urged the government to look into the proposal submitted to it by the association aimed at sanitising the union, adding that most of the commercial cyclists engaged in crime were not their members.
He said: “Yesterday was a very dark day because we lost our members and other innocent Nigerians. It is, indeed, very unfortunate. We pray that God will give their families the fortitude to bear the irreparable loses.
“We urge the government to ensure the security of lives and property of citizens. We are not blaming anybody in particular.
“We submitted a proposal to sanitise the union. Part of the proposal is the need for screening before becoming a member. We don’t just want anybody to come into the trade just like that. If the government had worked with our proposal, by now, we would have told you authoritatively the number of those members that died in yesterday’s unfortunate incident, but now we can’t.
“However, we have summoned an emergency meeting of all our chairmen across the five zones in the state and they are here already. On the average, our people are over 100 that lost their lives. We want to authenticate our membership, so we appeal to the state government to do something about our proposal to sanitize the trade.”
Chairman of the Kano Road branch of the association, Danjuma Issa, blamed the government for the incessant bombing in the state, saying the attention of security operatives had been on commercial cyclists while motorists carried explosives around.
Issa said they had been inundated with calls from families of their dead members over the whereabouts of their loved ones.
“It was an unfortunate incident and more so that it affected our members mostly. You see that we are few here today. We are still mourning as we are still taking stock of the dead among us.
“Some of our members could not work yesterday because of the unfortunate incident. It’s most unfortunate. Some of our members are not here and we don’t know what must have happened to them.
“Families of some of our members have been trooping to various hospitals in search of their loved ones. Some of the victims, you cannot even identify because they were burnt beyond recognition.
“I have been bombarded with calls from my family members. They are scared since they learnt of the incident.”
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