A total of 111 victims of Sunday’s bomb attack in Kaduna have been treated and discharged from three of the hospitals they were admitted. Eight persons were confirmed dead and 146 injured when a suicide bomber rammed his car on St. Rita’s Catholic Church, Unguwan Yero, Malali, in the Kaduna metropolis.
The 146 victims were admitted at Barau Dikko, St. Gerard’s and 44 Military Hospitals in Kaduna. National Mirror learnt that only 35 of the injured victims were still receiving treatment at the three hospitals yesterday. The figure was released during a visit to the hospitals by officials of the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN.
The Administrator of St. Gerard’s Hospital, Sister Theresa Dung, said that 14 victims were brought to the hospital and two had been discharged. Dung said that four of the victims on admission at the hospital were children.
At the Barau Dikko Hospital, the CAN officials were told that out of the 97 victims of the bomb blast, only 18 were still on admission. The leader of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mr. Aly Ouattara, who was seen treating some of the victims, said that the hospital had discharged 79 patients. Officials at the Army Hospital also confirmed that 30 patients had also been discharged while five were still receiving treatment.
The state CAN Chairman, Rev. Samuel Kujiyat, said: “In this situation, we are also grateful to God because we cannot question Him for allowing the attack. “We are giving thanks because the attack was not more than this and we pray for the speedy recovery of the victims.” Kujiyat dispelled the rumour on the death of the St. Rita’s Catholic Church priest, adding that “he is alive and stable at the Multiclinic Hospital in Kaduna.”
The state governor, Patrick Yakowa, yesterday said terrorist group wanted to make Nigeria ungovernable. Yakowa stated this while speaking with reporters shortly after he visited hospitals where victims of the attack were receiving treatment. He called on Nigerians to support President Goodluck Jonathan to end terrorism in the country. Yakowa also urged residents to expose terrorists to security agencies, adding that the attack was not due to security failure. He said: “They are more than 1,000 worshippers in that church on Sunday, then imagine if they succeeded?
“It is not the failure of security agents. Terrorists are bent on terrorising the state and the country. The blast was heard even in the heart of the town.” Yakowa, however, commended the media for reporting the true situation of the attack. “We thank security agents for responding promptly. I also thank media for reporting what actually happened at the scene. “I read all the media reports. Terrorist action is to bring Northern region backward.”
The Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, and Jama’tu Nasril Islam, JNI, yesterday condemned the bomb attack. In an e-mailed statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Anthony Sani, ACF said the attack was intended to destroy the current peace efforts being made by the youths in Kaduna to bring peaceful coexistence to the state. The ACF also called on aggrieved groups to stop killing others in the name of God and appealed for ceasefire.
The statement reads in part: “ The news of the suicide bombing of a Catholic church in Kaduna, which took place on Sunday that resulted in the loss of about eight people and injured many is totally condemnable because of its inhumanity, especially at a time when the leaders of all religious faiths are agreed that the act of killing oneself and other people in the name of God is not in line with God’s injunction in favour of sacred inviolability of the individual with clear sense of what is right and what is evil.”
The statement appealed to religious leaders and youths not to allow the attack to discourage them from their noble efforts at condemning violent conflict. JNI in a statement signed by its Secretary- General, Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, implored the security agents to be more vigilant and intensify measures aimed at curbing incessant bombings. “We condemned the act in its totality and call for calm and restrain. It is our prayers that the perpetrators behind the act will never succeed in causing chaos in Kaduna,” it said.
The Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, urged the Federal Government to review its tactics in fighting terrorism in the country, saying Sunday’s deadly bombing has shown the limitation of the government’s current tactics. In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the senseless suicide bombing showed that those perpetrating acts of terror in the country have yet to be curtailed, despite the chest-beating by the authorities over their supposed progress in the fight against terror.
While describing as ungodly and cruel the attack that affected mostly children and women in Kaduna, it said the government must urgently evolve a measure that will protect innocent citizens, from the terrorists and the security agencies, and curtail the ability of the insurgents to strike at a time and place of their own choosing. In a related development, gunmen on Sunday night stormed a popular relaxation joint in Barki Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State, killing four people and injuring seven others.
The gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen were said to have gone to the local bar popularly called Burukutu Joint at Gindin Akwati in Gashish District of the council area and opened fire on the customers who were inside the building. A resident, Moses Bot said: “The gunmen just opened fire on all those inside the building.
Four people were killed, while seven others sustained serious injuries. The injured are receiving treatment at the Plateau Hospital. “Most of those killed were friends and were just in the bar to unwind when the gunmen struck.”
Spokesman of the State Police Command, Abu Emmanuel, an assistant commissioner of police, who confirmed the incident to National Mirror in Jos said one Ali Iliya of Gashe Village lodged a report at the police station at Barkin ladi on the attack. Emmanuel further said investigation was ongoing to unravel those behind the attack, adding that no arrest had been made.
He called on residence to remain calm but vigilant and report every suspicious movement to law enforcement agents Meanwhile, Interior Minister, Comrade Abba Moro has assured Nigerians of the resolve of the Federal Government to continue to work towards halting the growing trend of bomb blasts and other violent crimes in the country.
Moro, who condemned the attack on innocent worshippers in which at least eight lives were lost and 45 others injured, described the act as “horrific, inhuman, barbaric and unwarranted.”
He, however, assured Nigerians of the determination of the current administration to bring an end to terrorism in the country.
The National Mirror
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