NIGERIA: BLACK FRIDAY IN KANO

The death toll from Friday’s multiple bombings in Kano is said to be as high as 150, going by the number of bodies that were seen deposited at the Murtala Muhammed Hospital (MMH), Kano. More bodies may have also been deposited at several other health facilities, including the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), the Abdullahi Wase Hospital and the Sheik Ahmed Jidda Hospital within the metropolis. A source, who ventured to the MMH in search of a relation, told  yesterday that the casualty figures were unimaginable. A 24-hour curfew has been declared in the Kano metropolis by the state government. Meanwhile, President Jonathan has promised to get at the root of the attacks. He described the perpetrators of the criminal acts as “enemies of our democracy”, while he commiserates with families of the victims of the blasts, said to have been caused by suicide bombers.

Also yesterday, the Police High Command reportedly summoned an emergency meeting of senior officers. The fallout of the meeting, it was gathered, could be mass transfer of key officers.

Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital Friday night also recorded series of explosions suspected to be the handiwork of political merchants. Though no deaths were recorded, the magnitude of it shook the areas around Government House, thus adding to the political tension in town. The Police said the Bayelsa explosions had no links to Boko Haram.

The management of Channels Television yesterday described the death of its Kano State Correspondent, Mr. Enenche Godwin Akogwu, in the Kano attacks as tragic.

Senate President, David Mark, Speaker of the House of Reps, Aminu Tambuwai, former Vice President Atiku, and other political and religious leaders, in separate statements yesterday, condemned the attacks even as they condoled with families of the victims. The Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, criticised the Jonathan administration as lacking the appropriate strategy and political will to deal with the insecurity in the country. This is coming on the heels of some Nigerians calling on the president to relieve his security chiefs of their jobs as “they have shown that they are incompetent to handle the current spate of attacks”.

In a statement yesterday, the Channels Television management, said the late Okogwu, whose tragic end occurred while he was covering the multiple explosions opposite the Kano State Government House, was a very resourceful employee that doubled as a Reporter and Cameraman.

Investigation revealed that the late Akogwu was at the Lagos office of Channels Television as at Wednesday last week to pick up a camera before he was killed in Kano two days after his return to the North.