Wedding reception turns tragic

It was yet another tragedy in Kano at the weekend, as two persons were believed to have been shot dead by gunmen, the third in the series within the Yuletide season.
An eyewitness account told our correspondent in Kano yesterday that at about 8 p.m. on Friday, two gunmen walked into a boutique, located on Zoo Road, opposite the Trade Fair Complex, pretending to make some purchases. But surprisingly, one of them pulled out a gun and shot the salesman at close range and immediately rushed out from the boutique.
While making good his escape, according to our source, the gunman shot sporadically into the air, a situation that compelled panic-stricken residents within the vicinity to scamper for safety in the nearby drainages.
A few moments after the sad incident, it was gathered that security operatives arrived and cordoned off the area but could not make any arrests as the suspects had already vanished into thin air.
Several efforts to contact the Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, ASP Magji Musa Majiya, on the phone for confirmation were unsuccessful as he failed to respond to his calls. It would be recalled that the driver of an Interim Management Officer (IMO) was gunned down on Christmas day by gunmen, while the caretaker chairman, who was the target, escaped with bullet wounds. As at the time of filing this report, no arrest had been made.
In a related development, as violence continues to spread in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram Islamists sect attacked residents and guests at a wedding ceremony in Mafoni ward of the metropolis, killing two guests and injuring three others at 11:00 am Saturday.
The gunmen were said to have targeted their victims, while about leaving the venue of the wedding ceremony attended by many guests from Kano, Yobe, Adamawa and Kaduna states.
An eyewitness and resident of Mafoni, Isa Audu in a telephone chat on Saturday said that the suspects cashed in on the crowd at the wedding ceremony and took positions in assassinating two guests, whose identities are yet to be identified by the Joint Task Force (JTF) and the police.
He said the two gunmen came in a tricycle and started firing gunshots into the air at about 11.05am, after the two guests were shot severally in the head and chest before they fled into Lawan Bukar ward, after which soldiers rushed to the scene at 11.27am.
National Mirror