Northern Crisis Worsens!

In Kaduna, soldiers deployed in the city averted a clash between
Christian and Muslim youths even as there were reports of an explosion
which resulted in a fire outbreak at the Panteka market.

Muslim youths reportedly took to the streets in Kaduna on Tuesday,
firing AK-47s, burning tyres and destroying at least one church. Intermittent gunshots were reportedly heard across the city throughout today.

 

“We heard an explosion which led to a fire. An explosion which
resulted in a fire outbreak has occurred at the Panteka market
destroying many shops. This happened as the attacks were going on in
Tudun Wada just before the curfew was reimposed,” Reuters quoted a
resident, Bitrus Moses, as narrating.

 

Before soldiers intervened, youths said to be Muslims from Tundun
Wada had set up a bonfire and threatening to avenge the killing of their
kin on Sunday.

 

The youths were said to have also attacked traders at the Sheikh Gumi Central Market.

 

Our correspondents report that the youths shot at motorists and
passers-by. The attacks created pandemonium as residents fled in
different directions. Those who had gone to work after the relaxation of
the 24-hour curfew by the government had to rush back home.

 

On learning that Muslim youths were massing for an attack, youths
from the predominantly Christian southern part of the state also
commenced mobilisation for a confrontation.

 

Alarmed at the palpable tension, the state governor, Patrick
Yakowa, promptly slammed another round-the-clock curfew on the state.

 

The governor had on Monday relaxed the initial 24-hour curfew it
imposed on Sunday following the bombing of three churches and the
consequent reprisal by Christian youths.

 

The violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, has claimed responsibility for the attacks on the churches.

Red Cross spokesman, Nwakpa O. Nwakpa, told the AFP that his teams deployed in Kaduna had alerted him to “ongoing protests.”

 

In reintroducing total curfew on Tuesday, Yakowa’s spokesman,
Reuben Buhari, said the decision of the government to reimpose the
curfew was to allow the government to continue with its responsibility
of safeguarding lives and properties.

 

The statement reads, “In view of certain new security challenges
that came up today and based on the need for the state government to
continue with its responsibility of safeguarding the lives and
properties of its citizens, the state government is hereby reimposing a
24-hour curfew in all parts of the state.

 

“This curfew covers all the 23 local government areas of the state.
As unpalatable as this decision is, the state government is doing it in
the best interest of the state. Consequently, everybody is strongly
advised to go back home now while security agencies continue with the
task of ensuring total peace in the state.”

 

The Yobe State Government also imposed a 24-hour curfew on the
state capital, Damaturu, following overnight gunfight between soldiers
attached to the Joint Task Force on Operation Restore Order and Boko
Haram insurgents in the state capital, Damaturu.

 

The statement announcing the curfew was signed by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Information, Alhaji Abdullahi Bego.

 

It directed members of the public to stay at home as security agencies work toward total restoration of law and order.

 

It called on members of the public to cooperate with the government
and various security agencies to ensure that normalcy returned to the
state.

 

In Damaturu, residents reported being confined to their homes due to sporadic gunfire.

A senior official at a Damaturu hospital told the AFP that the
gunfire which broke out on Monday had claimed some casualties, but that
the streets were too dangerous for rescue workers to move around.

 

The official, who requested anonymity, was quoted as saying, “We
have been holed up in the hospital since yesterday. We can’t leave
because it is not safe to go out. The morgue is empty now although there
are dead bodies on the street. Fighting is still going on in some parts
of the city and the streets are totally deserted.”

 

AFP also quoted the commander of a
military task force in Yobe State, Colonel Dahiru Abdussalam, to have
said that the Damaturu unrest started on Monday after authorities
arrested a Boko Haram suspect.

 

“The arrest prompted other members of the group to respond by setting off explosives and shooting indiscriminately,” he said.

 

The Commissioner of Police in Yobe, Patrick Egbuniwe, on Tuesday
confirmed that three policemen were killed while four others were
wounded in Monday’s explosions and gun attacks in Damaturu.

He told the News Agency of Nigeria in a telephone interview that the civilian casualty had yet to be ascertained.

 

“We are still working on that,’’ he said.

The commissioner, however, described the situation in the state capital as “calm.”