9 Policemen Escape Ambush in Kano as UK Flays Attacks

IGP, Mohammed Abubakar

•Tinubu asks Jonathan to resign over insecurity
• JNI alleges sinister plot to plunge the north into chaos

By Our Correspondents
Less than 48 hours after a motor park in Kano was attacked in multiple bomb blasts, nine riot policemen escaped death by a whisker when gunmen ambushed their truck on Dorayi Road in the Kano metropolis Tuesday.

Confirming the attack, the Kano State Police Command said that the policemen, who sustained varying degrees of injuries, were taken to the Armed Forces Specialist Hospital, Kano, for treatment.
He said three other persons within the vicinity also sustained injuries and were taken to the hospital for treatment.

The attack on the policemen happened just as a former governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Tinubu, called on President Goodluck Jonathan to resign for his inability to effectively address insecurity in the country.

Also, Kano State Governor, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, came under severe criticism at the Senate for the perceived indifference of the state government to the Monday bombings at the motor park.

Kwankwaso’s deputy, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, was however at the Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital, Kano on Tuesday, where some of the injured victims from the motor park attack were receiving medical treatment to commiserate with them.

By coincidence, the Senate’s observation was made as the governor led members of the Action Congress of Nigerian (ACN) to visit the injured policemen at the hospital in Kano yesterday.

Kwankwaso was accompanied by Tinubu and presidential flagbearer of the ACN in the last election, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.

A female medical officer told the governor that the nine policemen were brought to the hospital, while one of them was referred to the Dala Orthopaedic Hospital, Kano.

However, while raising the matter through a point of order in the chamber, Senator Uche Chukwumerije (Abia North), said it was sad that more than 24 hours after the destruction, Kwankwaso had not been seen neither did he send any condolence message to the victims' families.

Britain, in a statement yesterday, also expressed concern over the attack on the motor park in Kano and another bombing in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
However, the Muslim umbrella body in the North, the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), was of the view that the Kano bombings might be a ploy to cause chaos in the region and by extension, the whole of Nigeria.

Tinubu did not spare Jonathan in his condemnation of the Monday bombings in Kano, saying the president had not done enough to tackle terrorism in the country.

He called on  the president to resign immediately for his failure to curtail the worsening insecurity bedevilling the country.

He told reporters yesterday at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano, that the president has not demonstrated enough competence to inspire confidence in his ability to rein in Boko Haram members and other criminally minded people that have made the nation unsafe for its people.

Tinubu led the ACN National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande and Ribadu on a sympathy visit to the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero.
Bayero narrowly escaped death when gunmen attacked his convoy in January, in which four persons were killed.  

Tinubu, without mincing words, said the president had not done enough to check the spate of insecurity in the country and he should sit up to discharge his constitutional responsibility towards the people and should stop shifting the blame.

He said: “If this has been happening in these other states for some years and you (Jonathan) have not gathered enough intelligence to nip it in the bud, you have failed, please resign.

“You cannot continue to blame one IG or the other.  It is the responsibility of the president to make sure that Nigerians live in harmony not divided by religions; not divided by tribe and are not in conflict.
“Is it not possible that some people are now benefiting from the crisis, having unlimited access to security votes as long as this crisis continues?
“When you perpetuate insecurity, you have perpetual access to resources.” 

Tinubu also backed the recent calls on the president to grant amnesty to Boko Haram, saying, “Amnesty to Boko Haram should be done, but justice must be meted out to those people with blood on their hands so that you will discourage others in future from taking part in such dastardly acts.

“We have to look at the police side too because for every action, there is a reaction. When it started, did we do justice to those who openly committed crimes against humanity?

“The festering anger and frustration should be looked into properly but innocent people must get amnesty because we cannot wage a war in our own country against minor people.

“We may end up multiplying those people by trying to use force against your own citizens.”

Making references to Jonathan’s statement during his state visit to Borno and Yobe States about two weeks ago when the president said he would not grant amnesty to Boko Haram members whom he described as ghosts, Tinubu said the president was wrong to have described them as ghosts.

“I disagree with the president that they (Boko Haram members) are ghosts. They are not ghosts. Those people in prisons, are they ghosts? The JTF, are they there to fight ghosts?

“I think it was not the right thing to call them ghosts; they should grant them amnesty and treat them carefully. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander,” he pointed out.

On the merger of opposition parties to form the All Progressives Congress (APC), Tinubu explained that the merger was not in trouble.
“No matter the name you call it, the merger is a reality. Even if you take away APC, it will not kill the merger because there are 26 letters in the alphabet,” he added.

Chukwumerije, in his contribution in the Senate yesterday, said whereas the targets of Boko Haram had been based on the fault line of ethnicity and religion, Kwankwaso by his apparent indifference to the gruesome disaster, missed the excellent opportunity to project the terrorists as only a clique within the mainstream of the society.

He said it was sad that the governor failed to express sympathy with people and families of people who fell victims of the tragedy under his nose.

“Why has the governor of Kano not considered it fit to pay a condolence visit to the motor park more than 24 hours after the event? The governor's failure to do this has robbed the state of the opportunity of projecting the terrorists as a fringe clique outside the mainstream of the society,” he added.

Chukwumerije, who said over 80 per cent of victims of the attack were southerners, added that the families of the victims had rejected a mass burial for their departed relatives and demanded that their corpses be released to them for burial.

Also speaking on the matter, Senator Kabiru Gaya (Kano South), who said the forces behind the killings were working against the unity of the country, noted that Kano residents now live in fear.

According to him, school children in Kano stayed at home on Tuesday because they were afraid of being attacked following the invasion of schools by gunmen, which led to the killing of teachers in Maiduguri.

He urged the federal government to enter into dialogue with Boko Haram and grant amnesty to its members.
After taking contributions from senators, the Senate sustained the point of order raised by Chukwumerije and observed a minute silence in honour of the dead.

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja branch, also spoke in the same vein as Tinubu over the state of insecurity in the country.
The association yesterday gave the president a seven-day ultimatum to explain to Nigerians what his administration has done to address the terrorist activities of Boko Haram.

The branch chairman, Mr. Monday Ubani, issued the ultimatum at a press conference in Ikeja on the state of the nation.

He called on the federal government to explain why there was no apparent positive result in the effort to stem the menace of the   Islamist group.
He said that the association would liaise with its national body on what steps to take should the president ignore the ultimatum.

In its reaction to the Kano bombings, the JNI, headed by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubukar III, said yesterday that the attacks might be a ploy to plunge the north and the entire country into crisis.

JNI’s Secretary General, Sheikh Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, said the attack on the motor park was worrisome and urged governments at all levels to check the incidence to avoid a recurrence, and to bring the masterminds to justice.

The organisation, in a statement, also condemned the killing of a female Divisional Police Officer in Kano while calling for calm and restraint over the unfortunate incident.

Also, the Igbo Youth Movement (IYM) yesterday urged the Igbos to avoid reprisals following the Kano bombings, adding that doing so would amount to playing into the hands of terrorists.

The group, in a statement issued after its executive committee meeting in Enugu, which was signed by its President, Elliot Uko, said it had become necessary to caution against reprisals, demonstrations and rallies of any kind over the Kano bus station bomb blasts.

He said angry demonstrations and protests could easily get out of hand and lead to the loss of lives and destruction of property.
The group explained that with the new development in the choice of targets for bomb attacks, there was need for government to deploy bomb-detecting equipment in all bus stations nationwide.

The spate of attacks on Nigeria attracted the attention of Britain yesterday, which also condemned another terrorist attack on Maiduguri.
A statement from the British High Commission in Abuja yesterday quoted its Foreign Office Minister for Africa, Mark Simmonds, as saying that the attacks were senseless.

Simmonds also reiterated the commitment of British government to foster efforts to counter terrorism.