[allAfrica.com] [allAfrica.com_Top_Headlines] Madness in the North The News (Lagos) NEWS May 24, 2004 Posted to the web May 17, 2004 By Sylvester Asoya Last week, Kano returned to its old, wild, wild ways. As at Thursday 13 May, between 600 and 700 people were already dead, with many maimed, many houses, churches, mosques, vehicles and various businesses razed, in the city's latest wave of sectarian violence. The crisis, which began on Tuesday 11 May during a solidarity rally organised by Muslim leaders to protest the alleged killing of Muslims in the Yelwa- Shendam riots in Plateau state, followed a familiar pattern. As early as 8.00 a.m, residents of the city sighted youths milling around the Umar Ibn Khatto Mosque, near the busy Zaria Road. In a short while, their mission became clear. Even though the protesters were led by Islamic scholars, such as Sheikh Ibrahim Umar Kabo, who is Chairman Kano State Sharia Implementation Commission and Alhaji Abdullahi Sani Rogo, Commissioner for Local Government and Community Development, among other key government functionaries, there was panic everywhere. The fear heightened when suddenly, the demonstrators displayed placards condemning President George Bush of the United States and Israel Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon. Later, the effigies of the two leaders and that of Plateau State governor, Joshua Dariye, were burnt. While they were all marching to the Government House, the protesters hurled verbal abuses especially on Dariye, whom they accused of favouring his Christian brothers. Intermittently too, they listened to Kabo's address which centred on Islamic brotherhood and love. Kabo also cautioned the demonstrators to resist any form of infringement on their rights by any government or group of people. After an unusually long walk, they got to the Government House, where they presented their protest letter to Governor Ibrahim Shekarau and urged him to deliver it without delay, to President Olusegun Obasanjo. In his response, Shekarau condemned the Yelwa - Shendam killings, but thanked the protesters for conducting a peaceful protest. But how naïve he was. Soon, the protest snowballed into a full-fledged carnage as the youths poured onto the streets and attacked non-indigenes. Armed with cutlasses and clubs, the Muslim youths hacked Christians and non-indigenes. Business premises owned by Christians and non-indigenes were also vandalisd and burnt. Buses and taxis conveying passengers into the city were also targets of the violent protesters. Despite the dusk to dawn curfew immediately slammed on the state by Governor Shekarau, death toll mounted. By Wednesday, the blood-sucking protesters could not even be contained by the curfew or the presence of policemen on patrol. On Wednesday night, David Emmanuel, a factory worker said he saw two truckloads of bodies being driven along Kano streets. In addition, he personally counted at least 30 bodies on the street. The bodies were either burnt or mutilated with knives and cutlasses. In an interview with Reuters, Mark Amani, a Christian leader based in Kaduna state, said hundreds of people were killed. "Some corpses were burned in wells. Even little children were killed. The bodies of pregnant women were ripped open and their bodies burned", he said. The major flash points were Sharada, Brigade, Sabongari, Naibawa and Dan Agundi. The hoodlums also descended on corporate offices and vehicles along the popular Zoo Road, Kofar Nassarawa and Kumbutso. They even took the battle to Zone One Headquarters of the Nigerian Police on BUK Road, where six people were reportedly killed. Other battle zones included Haya, Gadan, Tukuntawa and Shagari quarters. As usual, a dusk to dawn curfew was immediately imposed less than 24 hours after the bloodbath began. In a statement, Governor Shekarau declared that "after due consultation with the state security council, the Kano State Government has imposed a dusk to dawn curfew from 7.00 p.m. to 6.00 a.m until further notice." The governor in the statement broadcast repeatedly on state radio urged parents to rein in their children, dissuade them from destroying people and properties. The Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero also lent his voice: "It is wrong to attack somebody or kill somebody over a crime he or she did not commit", he said in a radio broadcast. The Police also reacted swiftly through its Public Relations Officer, Mr. Chris Olakpe. According to him, the procession, which was a simple prayer session by Ulamas and Sheikhs for the repose of the souls of those who had died in Plateau, took a new turn when hoodlums hijacked it. Olakpe later disclosed "the police has brought the situation under control." Despite all the pleas for peace, hostilities resumed the next day with more deaths and destruction of properties, which necessitated the shoot-at-sight order to the combined forces. When Alhaji Ganiyu Alli Dawodu, Kano State Commissioner of Police spoke to journalists two days after the crisis, he reeled out a conservative figure on the casualties so far. According to him, while 30 deaths were recorded on the second day of the crisis, 25 people died on the first day. He further claimed that only 40 victims were injured and were undergoing treatment in various government and private hospitals. But Christian leaders countered quickly, saying that over 600 people were killed and 12 churches burnt. Reverend Andrew Ubah, secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Kano said he had the records of the 600 dead victims. For now, the long chain of victims continues to grow by the day, threatening a major humanitarian disaster. All through the days of the crisis, people were seen leaving their homes in heavy-duty trucks to avoid any further attack. Aside the State Police Command headquarters in Bonpai where most of the victims were quartered, many also sought refuge in churches and barracks and Sabon Gari, where there is a concentration of non-indigenes. In most of these new homes, especially in the barracks, there was acute shortage of water and food. This magazine reliably gathered that starvation threatened some of the refugees who sometimes went to bed without even breakfast. However, the scale of the damage that accompanied the protest baffled most Nigerians. Others wondered why Bush and Sharon suddenly became a subject of great importance in the protester' march to Kano State Government House. For now, many contend that the riots, which coincided with Al-Quaeda's televised beheading of America's Nicholas Berg in Iraq, may just be part of Osama bin Laden's terrorist master plan. Last week, Plateau State Governor, Joshua Dariye gave credence to this thinking. Dariye argued that the riot has features of external manipulation aimed at destabilising the new democratic order. "This is a grand design. It's an Al-Quaeda agenda to bring down Plateau State and bring down Nigeria. Men of goodwill must resist this attempt," he said. The governor further chided the Council of Ulamas who had earlier visited Aso Rock over the crisis in Plateau State, insisting that the group was incapable of representing the Muslim community in the State. Dariye said that the group sponsored the 1978 Maitasine Riot in Kaduna and also engineered other riots in the North. "They came to form their headquarters in Jos. Is it because we tolerate them? Now they want to turn it into an agenda. We will not accept that agenda." As part of his trouble-shooting efforts, President Olusegun Obasanjo paid a visit to the people of Plateau State primarily to calm frayed nerves. After the one-day visit, he ended up heightening the already bad situation. The president engaged the chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria CAN, Plateau State Chapter, Reverend Yusuf Pam and the administrative Secretary of Jamatu Nasir Islam, JNI, Sheik Abdullazeez Yusuf in a verbal war. What seemed like the first salvo came when the CAN chairman asked the president why he did not deem it fit to visit the state two months ago when Christians were massacred in Shendam. Obasanjo retorted in his characteristic manner. "Mr. Chairman of CAN, you are talking absolute nonsense and don't provoke me. You are talking absolute rubbish. I will not accept that. I will not take it. What meaningful thing have you contributed to making peace in this state other than you being chairman of CAN, my foot? If you think that you are a Christian, I can claim to be a better Christian than you are. What you are saying to me is that people died I didn't care because they were Christians and I now care because Moslems have been killed. You are an idiot to say that to me." Plateau State has 17 local governments and seven of these are embroiled in this cycle of violence. The violence is traceable to the Qua'an Pan Communal disturbance of 27 March 2001. The current crisis in Yelwa started on the 3 May but TheNEWS investigations revealed that it actually began in June 2002, when the "indigenous" community was attacked by suspected Fulani marauders. This was followed in February of this year when 71 people were killed. Forty-seven of these were slaughtered in the church. A reprisal attack was anticipated by the state government, which quickly deployed more police and military personnel. But the assailants bid their time until the security men were partially withdrawn. Then they descended on their perceived enemies. At the end of this blood letting on 3 May, 67 people lost their lives and the militias destroyed many houses and property. As a result, Bauchi, Nasarawa and Taraba states have become home to the fleeing residents of Plateau. That the crisis spread to Kano was a premeditated action of some Muslim leaders in Plateau State, hell bent on externalising the incident. Otherwise, observers wonder how corpses were taken from Yelwa-Shendam, a distance of about 280 kilometres to Jos, were taken to Kano for burial. Kano's romance with violence runs deep in its history just like most cities in the north. In 1953, the motion by Chief Anthony Enahoro requesting for self- rule for Nigeria in 1956 triggered off riots in Kano. The four-day carnage left scores of persons dead and 241 others injured. Between 29-30 May 1966, Kano played host to the infamous "Araba" killings arising from the May 24, 1966 counter - coup which left Aguiyi - Ironsi, former Head of State, dead. At the end of the marathon crisis in November about 30,000 persons mostly of Igbo extractions were killed. In October 14, 1991, a violent demonstration erupted to protest the planned crusade of German Evangelist, Reinhard Bonnke in Kano. The city was ablaze again on May 30 1995, in a renewed onslaught which consumed 20 people. The hot bed of the 1980's infamous Maitatsine riots made the headlines again in March 2001, when 50 people were killed in a brawl among social miscreants in the city. Kano was set aflame in 2002 when anti-American riots erupted to protest US bombardment of Afghanistan over exiled Osama Bin Laden. About 200 people were sent to the great beyond.   =============================================================================   Copyright © 2004 The News. All rights reserved. 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