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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News

		Daily Independent Online.         * Wednesday, May 12, 2004. 70 feared killed in Kano mayhem � Curfew imposed, soldiers deployed � We will fight to the finish � Muslims By Sukuji Bakoji (Kaduna), Augustine Madu-West (Kano) and Chinedu Offor (Washington, DC)   Representatives of various Muslim organisations ended a one-day emergency meeting in Kaduna on Tuesday with a pledge that Northern Muslims will take up arms against Christians in a fight to finish. As if on cue, Muslim youths protesting last week�s killing in Yelwa, a mainly Muslim town in Plateau State, descended on non Muslims in Kano and unconfirmed reports indicate that about 70 persons may have been killed in the mayhem. Armed soldiers were subsequently deployed to the streets of the metropolis late Tuesday on the orders of the Federal Government to contain the riot. The rioters, numbering several hundreds, also set on fire several properties, including four churches on Zoo road where muslim faithful had their prayers early in the day. Several vehicles, including police patrol vans, were burnt. The Muslim organisations had met under the auspices of the Concerned Muslim Organisation Nigeria (CMON), chaired by the National President of the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria (SCSN), Ibrahim Datti Ahmed. They vowed that the only thing that will avert the anarchy is for the Federal Government to convene a Sovereign National Conference immediately to enable the various nationalities decide on the fate of the nation. Ahmed told newsmen: �Call a sovereign national conference if you want to save the country, call a sovereign national conference, let�s sit round a table and let�s discuss whether we will continue living together or to separate, everybody goes his way. �If an overwhelming number of Nigerians want us to separate, we separate. But how do we want to separate? We can sit down around table or we fight a war. We will not submit to injustice, that�s why we are told to do Jihad. Jihad doesn�t mean attacking people without cause. It means don�t submit to an unjust person; fight him. If you die you go to paradise, if he dies he goes to hell. So what do you lose?� At press time, an estimated 300 women and children had abandoned their homes in a police barrack near the Zone One headquarters in Kano to take refuge at the zonal police headquarters following an attack on the barrack by the rampaging youths. Bodies littered the streets of Kano as policemen battled in vein to beat back the rioters. Ahead of the riot, Muslims youths in the early hours of the day had converged on a mosque on Zoo Road for a special prayer, after which they headed for Governor Ibrahim Shekarau�s office to lodge a protest over the killings in Yelwa. As the meeting between them and the governor progressed, militant youths went on a rampage, killing people, looting and burning properties. Four bodies were seen on the street a few metres away from the zonal police headquarters. Eyewitnesses said the victims were discharged from their vehicles and killed by the rioters. In one incident, the hoodlums burnt 10 vehicles, including a trailer conveying a container. The driver of the trailer escaped with machete cuts, but his brother was killed on the spot. Two students of Bayero University, Kano (BUK), heading towards the old campus from the new campus were removed from a commercial vehicle and killed. Some other BUK students ran to the police headquarters for protection. The rioters had a field day at Gadansaya junction and BUK Road, where they set ablaze several of their victims who were pulled out of their vehicles. Candidates writing the May/June Senior Secondary Certificate Examination of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) were not spared by the rioters who invaded their examination centres. They reportedly raped female candidates. Two luxury buses operated by C.N. Okoli Transport and Way Transport were destroyed. The protesters attacked the Sharada Police Barrack and the barrack by the Zone 1 Police headquarters, destroying patrol vans. At the zonal headquarters, armed policemen pushed away the attackers, who wanted to gain access to the several children and women taking refuge there. Authorities of the Federal College of Education, Kano in the afternoon sent distress calls to the zone assistant inspector general of police, that the institution has been invaded by the rioters. Distress calls also reached the police headquarters by 4.30 p.m. from the old campus of BUK when the place was infiltrated by attackers. When it was thought that the wave of attack has subsided after the imposition of a dusk to dawn curfew on Kano City, the militant youths left the metropolis and moved into the suburbs, attacking Kuma Babanline and moving into the Federal College of Education. Thousands of factory workers in Sharada and Shallawa industrial areas were evacuated late in the evening from their factories where they were held hostage. The police organised a rescue party and moved them to police barracks in the city. Several thousands of persons by the evening of Tuesday had moved into the various military and police barracks in the city. The Igbo community in Kano, taking stock of its losses in the riot, said it would react at the appropriate time. �We have received information on the attack on Igbos. So far, we don�t know how many of them are involved,� said Mr. Boniface Ibekwe, President of the Igbo community. He explained that the community�s leadership is still collating information on the number of Igbo killed and properties destroyed. �As soon as we get the details, we will respond appropriately. �he said. Although Shekarau was said to have opposed the deployment of soldiers to quell the riot, the Commander of the 3 Motorised Army Brigade, Kano who deployed soldiers on the streets late Tuesday claimed that he had instructions from above to do so. As the troops moved into the streets, the state government slammed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the metropolis and implored people to remain calm. The governor�s spokeman, Sule Yau, however said the incident though regrettable was not as widespread as claimed. He said the casualty figure may not be up to ten. According to him, government decided to impose a curfew to avoid looting be misguided element, no so much because of the magnitude of the crisis. Police spokesman Baba Mohammed said in an interview that the number of dead would be known only after the riot has been quelled. Said he: �We are doing our best to bring the situation under control. We do not have detailed records of what has happened.� A source at the United States Department in Washington on Tuesday who spoke unofficially expressed concern over the latest outbreak of violence in Nigeria. He hoped that the Federal Government would contain the situation and not allow it to spread to other parts of the country. The American Government, he said, is monitoring the situation and would react appropriately in respect of the safety of its citizen living and or traveling to Nigeria, but he advised US citizens to be close to the embassy for reasons of security.
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