By AbdulSalm Muhammad

Police Commissioner escapes death by his whiskers
Few minutes after a bomb exploded at the offices of the AIG, Zone 1, in Kano, the Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris, braved the odds and traveled almost five kilometres to the scene of the incident on a fact-finding mission.

The visit was brief and on his way back, he was unknowingly trailed by a strange vehicle right to his office at Bompai. The combat ready officers at the gate had to contend with and contain the threat.

Sunday Vanguard learnt that few seconds after the violent encounter with the identified threat bomb exploded in the ‘enemy car’, this was followed by a gun battle with members of the Boko Haram sect that had already infiltrated and taken position within the police headquarters.

Eyewitness accounts told Sunday Vanguard that the invaders launched twin attacks at the police headquarters. While the frontal attack was repelled, same could not be said of the of attack at the adjoining barracks that left in its wake death and destruction. The account had it that men in police camouflage who arrived in three Hilux vans, were well armed and launched door-to-door attack on occupants, killing and bombing their residence

Face-to-face with death
Iliya Ali, a police officer who is now recuperating from gun shot wounds sustained in his chest and right hand at the Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital corroborated this account to Vanguard on his hospital bed.

“I was off duty on that fateful Friday, and was setting out from the barracks to keep appointment with a tailor when suddenly I came under fire from people looking like us (Police). I was hit again in the chest; I fell off from my motorcycle and pretended to be dead while the operation lasted.”

Illiya Ali further revealed that “the carnage was much, bombs were thrown into the residences in the barracks, women and children were maimed as total confusion and chaos reigned for about five hours of deadly battle to secure the barracks.

“I was almost collapsing at the point I was ferried to the hospital among the dead and the injured due to loss of blood. I was one of those thought to be dead and was being taken to the morgue among the dead when I showed a sign that I am still breathing.”

Illiya Ali’s experience is one among hundreds that were victims of the bombing. While Iliya, a policeman was lucky to have lived to tell the story, not so fortunate was Eneche Akogwu, a broadcast journalist with Channels Television. The mayhem claimed Akogwu’s life.

The hustle and bustle of the commercial activities in the city of Kano reached a climax on that fateful Friday, January 20, 2012, as people were retiring home for the day during the evening rush hour when suddenly powerful blasts reverberated through the city in simultaneous blasts, indicating what appeared to be coordinated attacks on several targets.

In the end, hundreds of thousands were caught up in the web, and for several hours running through the night, Kano was under siege; and as sporadic shooting continued, many were widowed, several lost their loved ones, many were displaced, dozens were shot and corpses littered many streets in the aftermath.

Kano blasts targeted security facilities
The targets picked by the invading Boko Haram gunmen included AIG Zone 1 office located along the strategic BUK Road, Yar’Akwa Police Division, Farm Centre Police Division, and Immigration’s Passport office also at the Farm centre. Others were the residence of the AIG, Zone 1, the Police headquarters at Bompai and the adjoining barracks, all facilities of security organizations.

Although Police authorities in a statement signed by the CP, days after the tragic incident put the official death figure at 186, members of the general public and critical media platform disagreed with the official figure. According to the Police, it lost a total of 29 men; SSS lost three, Customs lost two, Immigrations lost one, Nigerian Union of Journalists lost one, while a total of 150 civilians perished.

Interestingly most of the targets picked by the invaders were of significant importance to the effective policing of the city and findings revealed that six targets serve as spots where hundreds of the suspected members of the Boko Haram members were being held after series of arrests in a combat operation months ago in Kano.

Scores of detainees in the entire bombed police outpost regained their freedom while the deadly invasion lasted. From all indications, the invasion of Kano by suspected members of Boko Haram on that fateful Friday evening simply caught the police unawares.

How Channels TV’s Akogwu died
Eyewitnesses told Sunday Vanguard that late Eneche Akogwu had stormed out of Government House that fateful day with some of his colleagues to cover bombing of the AIG Zone 1 office when suddenly he was attracted by another blast close to Government House. The Channels TV reporters in company of a senior colleague from The Nation newspapers shelved going to AIG Zone 1 office and headed to the trouble spot.

Sunday Vanguard further learnt that Deputy Director of Press to Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Hajiya Sa’adatu Babaji, had tried in vain to convince late Eneche and others to have a rethink about the assignment which turned out to be his last on earth.

I was one of those privileged to speak with him before his death. Tears rolling down her cheeks, Hajiya Sa’adatu Babaji, gave a graphic picture of how she tried to dissuade Eneche from venturing out of Government House to no avail.
“You are not going out of this office, it’s not safe, and Eneche concurred and complained that his car has no fuel and there and then his friend from The Nation newspaper gave him money to fuel his car,” she recalled.

Late Enenche

Hajiya Babaji recounted further: “At a point we struck a deal, and I went to my inner office. Shortly my attention was drawn to the fact that Eneche and The Nation’s reporter had stormed out of the office. Barefooted, I rushed after them to the gate to stop them but they would not listen and in frustration I returned to the office.

I was devastated when within half an hour after they had left the sad news of his death filtered back to Government House. It was a total eclipse; no one could believe that Eneche has gone so soon. I feel pain and the trauma will take a long time to disappear. It’s like I see him daily,” she added.

Kano residents count their losses
But for Alhaji Akaremi Muhammad, 41, he lost his wife and his twins born that same day due to explosions at their Bompai quarters. “Life became meaningless to me immediately. I lost a wife and the only children that Allah has bestowed on me. You can imagine what I feel when joy turned sour, it’s unimaginable,” Akaremi lamented.

I lost a brother who knew nothing about this fight, they have killed a whole dream,a nd I ask myself how would a living and perfect God forgive this kind of injustice meted on His slave unjustifiably, querried a woman at the police barrack mourning the death of her brother.

Mother of 4 looking for hubby
While some are lucky to have seen the remains of their loved ones and were giving them befitting burials, Salamatu Joshua, 29 is at complete loss at the where about of her husband Ciroma Joshua until now a staff of the Society for Family Health. She had searched the entire hospital and Ciroma Joshua’s body was nowhere and the widow is not left with four kids to look after.

Among the dead in Kano blast were some expatriates suspected to be Indians. They were three in number believed to caught up in the web. Their bodies were deposited at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital.

Mass burial of unclaimed corpses
As at last Tuesday paramedics commenced mass burial of unclaimed corpses at the Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hopsital for victims of last Friday bomb blast in the city that hit no fewer than 7 targets and claimed the life of 186 people.

Sunday Vanguard findings revealed that the operation began Monday night in a bid to decongest the morgues that were filled to capacity as result of heavy casualty from the bomb blast,  while several corpses left on the bare floor were beginning to decompose.

A source at the hospital told Sunday Vanguard on condition of anonymity that the state government secured a vast land at Kalebawa village, along Kano–Dambatta highway, saying that they had made three trips to the site allocated by the state government along Dambatta road, pointing out ‘no fewer than 20 unclaimed corpses were ferried to the site on each trip’.

Sunday Vanguard witnessed last minutes efforts by relations to secure the corpses of their loved ones for proper burial amidst tears and wailing.It was further learnt that unlike Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital located at the heart of the city, other health institutions charged relations a fixed amount for maintenance of the dead bodies in their morgues.

But the authority appeared alive to the challenges posed during this period of emergency. Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso returned impromptu to the state from Abuja to take charge of the situation. He visited bomb sites and survivors in the hospital. Kwankwaso directed free medical treatment for victims in all the hospital and clinics. He announced plan by the Government to offer assistance to survivors.

Enlarged security summit for the North on the cards
Interestingly, Kano appeared to be confronting the bull by the horns. A meeting of the stakeholders was convened to review and evaluate the invasion, and there was a general consensus to summon an enlarged security summit of stakeholders from the entire northern region to discuss the menace. The Kano meeting also agreed and listed credible, apolitical individuals whose status in the society are revered among the down trodden.

Kano at the moment is under siege and like several invasions the city had suffered in its chequered history, the last Friday attack was the most devastating and massive. Tolls had been heavy but residents expressed optimism that this may as well be the last in the history of carnage in the ancient city.

Indeed, the city has gone back to Allah for spiritual intervention. In the words of wife of the Vice President, Amina Namadi Sambo“ by the power of Allah, this (blast) is the first and by the special grace of Allah will be the last,” while on a condolence visit midweek.

Teary-eyed, Hajiya Sambo expressed confidence that “Kano will never witness a repeated carnage of this nature again”, while consoling the emir, Alhaji Ado Bayero on the loss. She added that “we are here before you on a condolence visit over the event of recent past, and may Allah see us through these difficult moments, and we call on Allah to intervene for us to overcome these problems.”