Kano Buries The Dead, The wounded bemoan fate

Even as the Boko Haram Sect and security agencies were still locked in occasional gun duel in Kano, Nigeria’s Northwest, victims of last Friday’s deadly attack by the notorious Islamic fundamentalists on the ancient city are counting their losses.
At the Christian section of Ahmadiyya burial ground, Airport Road on Tuesday afternoon, it was all crying as three of the bomb blast victims, including a child, were buried. Relations of the dead reigned curses on those that caused them the anguish.
”They killed my brother who knew nothing about whatever cause they are pursuing, they killed a dream, and so will God who I serve shall reward them according to their wickedness,” one of the mourners said.
The families of the survivors are also crying out for help.

Babangida Abdullahi Yelwa, 25, Corporate Economics and Management student of Kano state Polytechnic told P.M.NEWS that the critical condition of his father, Inspector Abdullahi Yelwa, who was hit by the scraps of the bombing at Zone 1 Police headquarters remains a serious setback to the family.
“My father married two wives with twelve children. He is the bread winner of the family. It is very sad to see him in this kind of condition.

“We all woke up that Friday very happy. My Dad, after giving us instructions on what to do set out for work. After the Friday Jumat prayers, I went to Kofar Naisa playing ground to play football. All of a sudden, I heard a big bang and people were running helter-skelter. I became apprehensive when I learnt that a suicide bomber had penetrated Zone 1 headquarters where my Dad was on duty at the time. I called his number and nobody picked. I contacted my brother to inquire from him; and he said someone else picked my Daddy’s number and told him he was a victim of the blast and had been taken to hospital. Coldness ran all over me. I thought my Dad would not survive it but I thank God that today he is still alive. I am a Muslim from Chiranchi community in Kombotso Local Government Area in this Kano state, I wonder why a fellow Muslim for whatever reason will do this to my family.”

Though his Father is alive, Babangida remains worried because the family is now in dire need of help to survive. “We are all students and applicants in our family, though some of us engage in little business which can rarely sustain our daily needs, not to talk of school fees and other needs. We need help to survive”
Hajiya Hadiza Ibrahim, elder sister to Inspector Yelwa told P.M.NEWS that she uses the little she earns to attend to the needs of the family of her wounded younger brother. “I was embarrassed when one of his wives told me to get some money for their family upkeep. My brother was wounded in active service. Though I thank God that he did not die because on Saturday morning when I went to Murtala Muhammed Hospital to search for my brother, I was shocked to see heaps of dead bodies littering all over the place. But I believe Government should be sensitive and take care of the families of the victims of this bomb blast,” Hajiya Hadiza said.

For Abdullaziz Abubakar, 19, it was a big relief to join his family again 24 hours after Friday’s bomb blast, though his father a sentry at the Bompai Police Headquarters is still lying at the Abdullahi Wase Specialist Hospital in Nassarawa quarters of the state.

“On that Friday when the Boko Haram people came, I was sitting outside the Bompai barrack’s gate. I saw people running, entering inside the barrack, then I ran inside the house but could neither see my father, mother and three siblings. I asked our neigbour and she told me everybody had run away from the barracks and she too was on her heels. I cried and searched for my family till 1 a.m. Saturday. I was so tired and hid myself beside a Mosque where I slept till day break.

“At about 7a.m. Saturday, I woke up and saw a crowd crying. I ran home again, and this time, I saw my Daddy on the bed bleeding profusely. I and one of our neighbours took him to the Police clinic but no one was there. We now had to bring him to Abdullahi Wase specialist hospital. It was on Sunday evening that my Mum, my two brothers and younger sister came back home from Brigade quarters where they had gone to take refuge. Though my father is lying here critically wounded, I am happy to see my family again after one night of trauma and loneliness.”

Abdullaziz may be happy to be with his family again, but he asked for assistance to the family to survive.
” My father is the only bread winner of the family, now he is here. It is true that the government has promised to take care of his medical bills—what about us who solely depend on him to survive. I pray that the government shall come to the aide of not only my family but to the families of all the victims of that black Friday’s bomb blast,” the young man, an SSS3 student of Fatimat International Secondary School, Tudun Wada, Kano, pleaded.

Government claimed 186 people died in the multiple bombings that rocked the city last Friday. But independent sources put the death toll at over 200. (PM News)