The Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sansui II, yesterday said the multiple blasts that rocked Kano Central Mosque, killing over 100 worshipers, was carried out in order to infuse fears in Muslims in the country, saying “we cannot be intimidated.”
The Emir, who spoke shortly after returning to the country from Saudi Arabia where he was when the attack took place on Friday, said the attack had no connection with his recent call on Nigerians to rise against the insurgents.
Last week, the emir – who is the country’s second most senior Muslim cleric – made a call at the same mosque urging civilians to take up arms against the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram.
“From all indications, they (attackers) have been planning this for at least two months,” Sanusi was quoted by the Agence France Presse (AFP) as saying when he arrived at the mosque straight from the airport. He did not give details on what information supported that assertion.
“I have directed that the mosque be washed and cleaned and prayers should continue here,” he said.
“We will never be intimidated into abandoning our religion, which is the intention of the attackers.”
Our correspondent reports that the emir led the Magrib prayers at the premises of the Mosque around 6.20pm.
Reacting to the attack, the Kano State Governor, Engineer Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso urged the Federal Government to dialogue with the Boko Haram sect.
He urged the people of the state to intensify prayers.
Meanwhile, our correspondent has gathered that the suicide bombers that struck at the Mosque were conveyed in a Toyota Sienna car by a 15-year-old boy.
A vigilante worker (name withheld), who had an encounter with the insurgents shortly before they struck, said the boy was left alone in the car after the suicide bombers alighted from it.
“As required, we don’t allow vehicles to go into the mosque’s premises. Therefore, when I saw this particular vehicle trying to get in I became furious and I started shouting on the driver who was just about 15 years old. He didn’t utter a word to me. I wanted to pull him out of the car when I saw smoke.
“Because of the tick smoke I became suspicious and I started running backward only to find myself at the hospital. How I survived the attack still remains a miracle to me. I thank Allah, but these people are heartless. Three of my colleagues that were close to me at that time died,” he said.
Our correspondent reports that security, hospital and rescue workers could not release the exact casualty figure as many relatives of the victims took the corpses of their affected persons for burial in line with Islamic injunctions before documentation.
But hospital sources told our correspondent that they counted 89 corpses of victims. However, in an interview with Sunday Trust, the acting police commissioner of Kano state, Sanusi Lemu, said casualty figures had risen from 35 to 55.
“Twenty more persons have died, making the total casualty to be 55. A total of 35 persons died on the spot at the scene of the multiple blasts,” he said.
Giving the police account of incident, he said the insurgents drove a bomb laden Toyota Sienna and parked it about 500 metres away from the mosque.
“At about 2.30pm, there was explosion and thereafter three insurgents ran into the mosque and started firing at the worshipers. The worshipers mobbed, lynched and set the trio of the insurgents ablaze,” he said. He said, at the scene of the blasts, the police recovered two AK-47 guns, five magazines with 40 live ammunitions and that a total of 154 injured persons were receiving treatment at various hospitals in the state.
In an interview when he hosted the officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Executive Secretary of the Kano State Hospital Management Board, Dr. Kabir Masokano, said the victims of the blasts had overwhelmed all the hospitals in the state.
He said they were still collating the casualty figure.
“All our hospitals are filled to the brim with patients of the blasts. We have exhausted all our consumables, including the ones in our store. It is in view of this that we are calling for the donation of dressing materials and drugs,” he said.
He said they had more than enough blood in the banks following the swift response by resident.
“From across Kano metropolis, and even beyond, people came to donate blood and we have enough of it to cater for the injured persons,” he said.
The Zonal Coordinator of NEMA, Alhaji Musa Illelah, who led the team of the agency, said the Federal Government would promptly donate the needed hospital materials.
In their swift reaction, the Kano State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), yesterday condemned the attack, describing it as wicked and ungodly.
The Chairman of the association in the state, Bishop Ransom Bello, said the attacks were the handiwork of “wicked, blood-thirsty evil men, wearing the garb of religion.
“We send our deepest condolences to the people and Government of Kano State. We sincerely commiserate with all the families of the bereaved. We deeply feel and share in their pains at this time of their emptiness.
“The Boko Haram Sect would eventually fall while the Nigeria nation would grow stronger and its people would become more united. The collective will of the good people of Nigeria is much more, stronger than the evil agenda of members of the Boko Haram Sect and their sponsors.
“We must all collectively- irrespective of religion, tribes and political differences- take a firm stand against terrorism and their actors. We would not, and should not, allow the intention of these terrorists to destroy our unity and peaceful co-existence in Kano state or in any part of the country,” he said.
