*Nowhere is safe – Primate Okoh
*Nigerians must unite against terror – APC
*Blame it on Jonathan – Saraki
By Abdulsalam Muhammad, Demola Akinyemi and Caleb Ayansina
For the first time in the 400-year history of the Kano Central Mosque, Muslim faithful abandoned prayers mid-way.
Yesterday, survivors of the Friday carnage, the death toll of which is believed to be well over 200, recounted what happened and how they escaped death.
Even on their hospital beds and suffering varying degrees of pain, they painted a very grim and frightening account of what happened.
Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State visited hospitals in the city, yesterday, to commiserate with, as well as give words of encouragement to families of the deceased at mortuaries on the one hand and survivors on the other hand.
To Alarama Muhammadu Inuwa, a 70-year-old cleric, the multiple blasts that ripped through the Jumat prayers in Kano further strengthened his belief in the
Residents look at a burnt car outside the central mosque in northern Nigeria’s largest city of Kano on Novemer 29, 2014, a day after twin suicide blasts hit the mosque during weekly Friday prayers. At least 120 people were killed and 270 others wounded when two suicide bombers blew themselves up and gunmen opened fire during weekly prayers at the mosque, a week after the emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, of one of Nigeria’s top Islamic leaders called on northerners to defend themselves against Boko Haram Islamists that have been carrying out deadly attacks and seizure of territory in the northeast. AFP PHOTO
omnipotence of God in whom he believes, even though he occasionally looked blank as he narrated how he escaped.
Inuwa told Sunday Vanguard at his Naibawa residence how he escaped the madness that enveloped the Kano Central Mosque after what looked like coordinated terror attacks on the largest congregational prayers – over 1,500 were reportedly injured.
The Chief Imam of Masalacin Nakuka of Naibawa Quarters said that his 32-year-old son, Ahmadu Inuwa, and a neighbor, Malam Mai Tasi, “were seated two rows away from my position”.
The revered cleric revealed that for a period spanning five decades, “I observed my Friday prayers at the city’s mosque” but said for two years now, “I had ceased going there until last Friday”.
Speaking further, he said, “I got to the mosque early enough and sat beside some friends that I had always sat with inside the dome for five decades. We exchanged pleasantries, and I explained to them the reason for my absence in the last two years.
“Everything went on smoothly until about five seconds into the prayers when we had a deafening noise behind us followed by twin-blasts that occurred simultaneously right inside the mosque”.
Prayers were immediately abandoned as faithful scampered in different directions.
Bowels
Continuing with the graphic details of the blasts, he said: “The Chief Imam, who led the aborted Jumat prayers, betrayed emotion after the first blast, and the twin blasts right inside the mosque because everyone, including the Chief Imam ran for dear lives”.
He explained: “You cannot believe it. While I made my way out of the chaos, I never knew that a six-year old boy who was perhaps caught in the madness tenaciously hung on to me until I got to a safe zone. It was hell inside there.
“How I escaped is still a subject of mystery, and it has also strengthened my faith that Allah is alive and in total control of events and happenings in this sinful world”.
Ahmad Inuwa, 32, in tears, while reliving his ordeal in the house of God, narrated: “A large number of worshippers recovered from the initial shock of the blasts and stood their ground when it became obvious it was an attack; we needed to defend ourselves.
“I partook in the efforts to rescue the injured and remove the mangled bodies of children. I saw people’s bowels.
“I also saw how worshippers confronted the gunmen, picked them one after the other and set them alight.
One of the ironies was thi
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