Buhari Escaped Death, 82 killed In Kaduna Bomb Blast

At least 82 persons were killed yesterday, and several others injured in two bomb blasts in Kaduna, targeted at former head of state, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi. Both men, however, escaped unhurt.
In a statement he issued immediately after the incident, General Buhari declared that it was an assassination attempt and narrated how the suicide bomber tried to carry out the deadly assignment.

Kaduna State Governor, Alhaji Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, in response imposed a 24-hour curfew on Kaduna town after the blasts.

In his reaction, President Goodluck Jonathan thanked God for sparing the lives of General Buhari and Sheikh Bauchi, and extended condolences to families of the dead, while commiserating with the injured.

The first bomb attack took place on Isa Kaita Road, off Ali Akilu road around 12:30pm, yesterday, when the convoy of Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi was returning home after he gave a Ramadan Tafsir sermon to thousands of Muslims of the Tijaniyya sect. The Police said 25 people were killed, but those who spoke to newsmen at the scene said about 40 died in the blasts.
Bauchi had escaped a bomb attack about three weeks ago near his home in Eskolia quarters of Kaduna.

The second blast took place around 2:30pm, about two kilometres away from the scene of the first blast at the busy over-head bridge at Kawo part of Kaduna town as Buhari was making his way out of town, leaving not less than 50 people dead.

Speaking to newsmen at the scene of the first attack, Kaduna State Police Commissioner, Umar Shehu said: “All I can say is that the Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, and Road Safety Corps have told me that they recovered 25 corpses from this place. But you can see that we still have some human remains here. I cannot tell you the number of those injured at this point. That is all I can say”.

But that differed from what some eyewitnesses said. One Isa Saidu, 23, gave his account thus: “I was at the Murtala Mohammed Square where Sheikh Dahiru preached to us. I was also in the convoy conveying him back home. It was a long convoy. Suddenly, I saw a man on a motorcycle carrying a sack or bag. He was driving very recklessly and defied the instructions of our security guard, who attempted to make him slow down. He then tried to come close to the car conveying the Sheikh but the security did not allow him.

People look at the burnt out shell of a car following an explosion on July 23, 2014 in Kaduna, north of Nigeria. A second blast today in the city has killed at least 17 people, the national rescue agency said, after an earlier suicide attack in the city killed at least 25. An around-the-clock curfew was announced for the city after the bombings.

“As he persisted, they pushed him off the road and he fell into a ditch, while the bomb device he was carrying exploded. I don’t want to say what happened. Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi’s body was covered with blood, but it was the blood of those who were protecting him. I can swear by Allah that I personally counted 41 bodies. It is the most terrible thing of my life,” he said.

Others who spoke gave similar accounts. As news of the first attack spread through the state, another explosion took place two hours later.
According to eye witnesses, a man in a Sienna car had trailed the convoy of General Buhari from where it took off. An aide to Buhari, who asked not to be mentioned, told reporters that “the car overtook other cars and came very close to the SUV in which the general was. His security details tried to get in-between, then the Sienna car exploded.

“The security men’s car was destroyed, and the three men were severely injured. The general’s car was damaged badly, but because it was bullet-proof, he came out unhurt, and was transferred to another car and taken away,” he said.

The explosion led to the killing of not less than 50 persons, according to those who came to the scene shortly after it happened.

About 22 cars were burnt and several people injured. “There was no way more than 50 people could not have been killed”, a reporter with a local radio station whose office was near the scene told some reporters.

“By the time we reached the place, there was so much blood and many corpses all over the place. I am too shaken to speak on this matter,” he said.

But CP Umar Shehu said after visiting the scene that, “I am told that 14 people were killed and four were injured. I am told that a VIP car was affected, but I am yet to confirm to you. I shall update you in time”.

Vanguard