By LUKA BINNIYAT
Around 12 noon last Monday, rumours spread fast in Kaduna that a suicide bomber had forced his way into Kaduna State Government House (Sir Ibrahim Kashim House), Kawo, and that there had been an exchange of fire between him and security personnel guarding the place before he was captured.

There was palpable anxiety in Kaduna that afternoon, after a daring suicide bomb attempt at a Military formation in the town was foiled just a week before.

In less than 15 minutes, Sunday Vanguard discovered a bevy of harsh Soldiers and Mobil Policemen who had cordon off the road leading to the gate of the official abode and office of Kaduna State Governor,  500 metres away that Monday.

About 50 metres away where the soldiers had blocked, was the gate of 44 Army Referral Hospital. Even those who claimed they wanted to visit the hospital as patients were denied passage by the unusually agitated security men. Many VIPs who had appointments at Sir Ibrahim Kashim House were not allowed any passage.

Soon, media men in a 20-seater bus of the Nigerian Union of Journalist (NUJ) Kaduna Council, arrived around 12:30pm. At that point, a soldier was seen on the other side of the road using the bayonet of his gun ripping off the tyres of a red Honda car – the driver had carrying out instructions to turn and beat a retreat. The soldiers in particular were so worked-up to give credit to the claims that there was a suicide bomber in Sir Ibrahim Kashim House.

Even reporters were not welcomed.

“We were invited to come and see the car that the suicide bomber used”, Isaiah Benjamin of Leadership Newspaper informed them.

“Government House is part of our daily routine, and we need to see what has happened”, he told the soldiers.

“Look my friends, respect yourselves and go away-o!”, an Army Lance Corporal whose name could not be made out warned.

“Nobody told us that any Journalist is coming. Tell the Governor to inform us to allow you in. Our order is to keep everyone away”, he said.

There was an argument; then a Mobile Policeman intervened.

In the end, it was agreed that the NUJ bus be parked by the side of the road, pending confirmation that Journalists could go and see the car that the suicide bomber used and the explosives in the car.

Soon a kind of banter ensued between a soldier and some Journalists.

“This country is hard to understand”, he said.

“This Boko Haram, na big, big men dey inside”, he said.

“This man wey do dis thing, na Director for ministry”, he said.

He went on to say that a man came to the gate of government House; that he refused to be searched, rammed his car against the gate, forced it open and started speeding into the Government House. He said that a team of Soldiers, State Security Service and Mobile Police opened fire on the car, demobilising it just as the man made it to the exit gate used by the governor.

“The man came out and we were shooting. But the bullet no enter him body. He get medicine, that day remove dey throw at us. When dey medicine finish. We got him on his legs. His car get bomb inside”, he told the reporters listening with mouths agape.

“The man dey for here”, pointing at the 44 Army Referral Hospital.

“The car dey inside. I just pray they allow you inside. You will see wonders”, he said.

All around, the story was repeated by every Policeman or soldier approached for a brief. They were unusually cooperative with this story but, of course, pleading that no one quoted them.

After about twenty minutes, the Kaduna State Police Commissioner, Mallam Mohammed Bala Nasarawa, arrived the road block with his convoy, sirens wailing. Some reporters made for his car, hoping he would make a case for them to be allowed in. But he did not as much as even wind down the tinted window of his car to acknowledged anyone’s presence. The obstacles were promptly cleared for him and he sped to the gate, said to have been damaged by the suicide bomber.

The Press left after waiting in vain for over an hour.

Six hours after stories had been filed and sent, the Police Commissioner assembled a few journalists in his office and read a statement, that later became very inconsistent with the “scoop” the Press was fed with at the road block.

Said Nasarawa: “At about 13:28 hrs, a combined team of security personnel attached to Government House main gate, Kaduna, intercepted a Toyota Corolla Saloon car, maroon in colour with Kaduna State Government official Reg. No Kaduna,KD-06-A 04.

“The driver drove dangerously in a suspicious manner towards the Government House gate. The security personnel stopped the lone occupant, but instead of stopping, he forced himself through the exit gate and found his way into the government house.

“The security agencies thereafter, opened fire and shot the suspect on the leg and lower abdominal part of his body. The suspect was later identified as Pastor Isuwa Kiforo ‘M’ of No.7 Abba Rimi, Narayi Kaduna, who is the Director Finance and Administration, Ministry of Information, Kaduna State.

“He was rushed to 44 Army Reference Hospital Kaduna for treatment, after he was given first aid by a team of medical personnel attached to the Government House. The vehicle was thoroughly searched in my presence by our Anti-Bomb disposal experts and nothing incriminating was recovered. In essence neither weapon nor explosives were found in it” he had said.

Many who claimed to know the man rejected the claims of the Police boss. They vouched for the integrity of “the man-of-God” saying, something went awry which Nasarawa was hiding.

Kiforo’s wife of 25 years, Mrs Charity Kiforo and mother of his five children, strongly disputed the statement of Nasarawa.

Speaking exclusively to Sunday Vanguard, at the heavily guarded 44 Army Referral Hospital, Kaduna where Kiforo was being treated yesterday, she said that her husband had undergone an operation, in which several bullets were removed from his legs and  abdomen, largely on her family expenses, though he was brought there by government.

She said: “I have never known my husband to have problems with the law. He has never even been to a police station because of his conduct. He is a Minister of the Living Faith Church, Kakuri, and is a very senior government staff. He goes to the Government House several times, and is well known at the gate and most of the staff at the Government House knows him. I am still wondering why he had to be so shot like a man engaged in exchange of gun fire with the Army and Police.

“I was told that even after they brought him down, they drove an armour tank and pointed its big gun on him when  he lay unconscious, bleeding.

“There must have been a huge error on the part of the security personnel there.  As you can see, since morning several pastors both from our church and from other churches have been trooping here, expressing shock at what happened. My husband would never hurt anyone, and I have never known him to break the law, even when he was a younger man. We are going to look for ways to find out what led them to almost kill him.

If you look at his car, from what I am told, there was no where it showed that he banged on any thing. There is no dent on the car. They did not shoot him in the car; because there is no bullet hole in the car. He was allowed to enter through the main gate, as they usually do after he identified himself, being someone they know very well.

Why he was made to stop and made to come out of the car and was so brutally shot with only his phone in his hand, is something I want to consider as grave error on the part of the security people there. They have caused us so much pain and anguish.

“We are saddled with the medical bills now, but believing God that he would provide more for us, and that my husband will come out and tell the world what really happened”, she said.

The car was removed and taken to an undisclosed location. It was not at any of the Police Stations in Kaduna after frantic searches by Sunday Vanguard.

Meanwhile, the following day, an explosion went off at Ungwa Sarki Market, around 11:30am.  10 minutes later, another bang occurred about 500m away, under a busy overhead pedestrian bridge instantly maiming to death a policeman.

The first explosion took place opposite the Kaduna State Transport Authority (KSTA) motor park with various states’ transport services having loading units there.

The second occurred on Sultan Bello road – still in Ungwa Sarki – killing an anti-bomb squad police officer, whose ranks and identity was not  made available to the media as at the time of going to Press.

The policeman, according to source, was killed while using a bomb scanner to ascertain an object suspected to be a bomb allegedly dumped by Boko Haram sect at Ungwan Sarki area, near the Sultan Bello Mosque – a grandiose, imposing structure revered by Kaduna Muslim as their Central Mosque.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Aminu Lawan confirmed the incident, saying the policeman that was killed was one of their anti-bomb squad officers. He said investigation into the incident had commenced immediately.

According to an eye witness who identified himself as Sani Ali, “after the first explosion the attention of the Police and soldiers was drawn to a polythene bag kept under this bridge. Those who saw the first explosion at the market side said it came from a similar bag. The policeman told the soldiers to go back that he would go and see what was inside.

Then as he placed his instrument on the bag, it exploded and killed him. People started running away. People have just returned here now”, he said.

When Sunday Vanguard visited the scene of the blasts, the body of the policeman was seen lying on the main road with more than half of his body parts scattered all around the place.  Shop owners around the area rushed to close their shops, just as the roads were barricaded by fully armed team of police and soldiers thereby causing heavy traffic jam.

Also, traders at the Ungwa Sariki market were forced to close their shops while schools and financial institutions around the area also closed abruptly.