Buhari, Sheik Bauchi escape death in bomb blasts

Over 90 killed, scores injured, vehicles damaged
•24-hour curfew imposed

Former Head of State, General Muham­madu Buhari, yester­day escaped death, as his vehicle was hit in the twin bomb blasts in Kaduna. Also, popular Islamic schol­ar, Sheik Dahiru Bauchi, es­caped death by the whiskers in the incident.

In the bomb attacks, over 90 persons were killed, while scores were injured. Vehicles and other property were also destroyed.

General Buhari was said to be on his way to Daura, his hometown in Katsina State, to celebrate the Sallah festiv­ity there, when his convoy ran into the bomb blast on Kawo Road, Kaduna.

One of the vehicles in Bu­hari’s convoy that ran into the blast was badly damaged. The former Head of State was immediately moved into an­other vehicle and driven away. Three of his aides sustained various degrees of injuries in the blast.

Speaking to Reuters on the bomb blasts, Buhari’s son, Musa, alleged that his father was the target of the attack.

The first bomb blast, ac­cording to eyewitnesses, oc­curred at about 12.45 pm, soon after the closing of Ra­madan Tafsir (end of Ramadan preaching) by Sheik Dahiru Bauchi, which was held at the popular Murtala Moham­med Square, where a suicide bomber was said to have laid ambush on Alkali Road.

The second blast occurred at Kawo, about two hours af­ter the first blast. In the attack, a bomb rocked the Kawo fly-over bridge.

Eyewitnesses stated that over 50 people died in each of the blasts, while scores were injured. Most of the dead and injured ones, according to eyewitnesses, were followers of Sheik Bauchi, who had ac­companied him to and from the preaching ground.

One eyewitness said: “At about 12.30 pm, we just heard loud noise; it happened where many cars were parked, and we saw dead bodies being flung in different directions.  Many spots along Alkali Road, where the bomb blast occurred, were soaked in blood. This was the time peo­ple were returning from Tafsir lecture in Murtala Square.”

Following the twin blasts, the Kaduna State government has imposed 24-hour cur­few on the state to curtail the charged situation.

The state Commissioner of Police, Shehu Umar, con­firmed the incidents, saying 39 bodies were recovered from the scenes of the two bomb blasts on Alkali Road and Kawo area of the city.

He came short of mention­ing the name of General Bu­hari as the important person­ality that escaped the blast, but simply said, “a prominent dignitary managed to escape the blast.”

On the Alkali Road at­tack, he stated:  “For now, we have recorded 25 dead bod­ies. People have just closed from the Ramadan Tsafir led Sheik Dahiru Bauchi, and we provided enough security at Murtala Square, the venue of the Tafsir, but the bomb was planted far away from the venue, to target him through the route he was taking. We are doing our best to safeguard the country, so, we are appeal­ing to the perpetrators to lay down their arms.”

Just early this month, there was a bomb blast near the house of the Islamic scholar, soon after the breaking of the Ramadan fast in Askolaiye area of Kaduna metropolis, which did not kill anybody, but injured others.

Sheik Bauchi narrowly escaped death yesterday, as bombs went off as he passed. Eyewitnesses said there were stains of blood on his clothes and the clothes of those that were with him. His convoy was said to have beaten the vehicle of the suicide bomber, who attempted ramming into the convoy, before he was said to have detonated it himself. And he was said to have also died in the process.

Earlier, the Islamic cleric was said to have hammered on the need for peaceful co-existence among the people during the Ramadan preach­ing, saying: “Your good deed should not end with Ramadan but the beginning of doing more good.”

Speaking on the bomb at­tack, North West Zonal Direc­tor, National Emergency Man­agement Agency (NEMA), Musa Elallah, said: “As the police have said, 39 people were killed, and we have moved those that were injured to various hospitals in town, but we cannot tell you now how many people are injured until we move round the hos­pitals to take figures.

“Immediately it happened, all the security agents, includ­ing the police, soldiers, SSS, FRSC, Red Cross and others moved in. We are doing our best to control the situation,” he added.

A statement signed by Governor Muhktar Ramalan Yero’s Director General, Me­dia and Publicity, Ahmed Mai­yaki said: “Following the un­fortunate situation, a 24-hour curfew has been imposed on Kaduna metropolis with im­mediate effect, to enable secu­rity agencies restore normalcy.

“Enemies of peace have visited us with their ungodly venom of wanton destruction of human lives. This blast, coming in the holy month of Ramadan, is a clear indication that those behind the act have no iota of the fear of God, as they have none for the sanctity of human life.”


THE SUN