On the outskirts of the city, burnt out minibuses and cars littered the highways, and at least six charred bodies could be seen. Skull caps and sandals were strewn nearby, left behind by those who frantically fled amid the chaos.
Security agencies and aid groups have hesitated to release tolls following the riots across the northern states for fear of inciting reprisal attacks, but the National Emergency Management Agency confirmed there had been fatalities. The Nigerian Red Cross said, yesterday, that nearly 400 people had been wounded.
President Jonathan said yesterday after INEC chairman formally presented poll returns to him in Abuja: "We use this opportunity to plead with all our political leaders and religious leaders to condemn the acts so that our country will not witness such again. Nobody wants to invest in a place … (where) people fight, kill and destroy."
He also suspended his interior minister, Capt. Iheanacho, yesterday, citing "a number of lapses in the political leadership of the ministry."
On Monday, supporters of CPC candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, had set fire to homes of ruling party members in several areas across the north. Police said an angry mob also engineered a prison break.
In Kano, Rev. Lado Abdu said three churches had been set ablaze by angry demonstrators. An armed mob at a bus station also threatened another evangelical pastor before a Muslim man nearby spirited him to safety.
Rev. Habila Sunday said in Hausa language: "What brought together religion and politics? I want to know why when politics happens they burn churches?"
Thousands have been killed in religious violence in the past decade, but the roots of the sectarian conflict are often embedded in struggles for political and economic dominance.
Kano mosque burnt
Meanwhile, youths burnt a mosque in Kano early yesterday after rioting that followed presidential elections, prompting Muslims to destroy shops in response, residents said.
Kano police spokesman, Magaji Majia, confirmed "reports of an incident in Tudun Wada neighbourhood, but the situation has been contained." He said he was on his way to meet with local traditional chiefs and the imam in the area, adding that the city was now enforcing a 24-hour curfew.
A resident, Ya'u Mohammed said the youths who had taken refuge in a police barracks the previous day left and crossed into a Muslim area of the city, where the mosque and two trucks were set alight, adding: "Muslim youths in the area were attracted by the smoke coming from the mosque and trucks. In retaliation, the Muslim youths vandalised and looted dozens of corner shops attached to the barracks largely owned by Christians.”
Source: AFP.
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