About a hundred non-Muslims were taking refuge at the premises of the police division in Bichi Local Government Area of Kano State yesterday following a deadly religious violence that broke out Thursday in the town located about 30 kilometres from Kano city.
Among the people seeking shelter at the police division were women and children. Some of them said they have lost all they had to the riot that started on Thursday morning after an Igbo tailor has inadvertently made a pronouncement that ‘miscreants’ misinterpreted to mean a deliberate blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
The tailor, whose name was simply given as Chibuke – now rumoured to have been killed – was said to have wrongly pronounced the name for a popular outfit (Na Annabi ya zo kasuwa), while chatting with a business associate.
Weekly Trust gathered that some youths who were present at the place, went into town alerting people that the tailor has blasphemed the Prophet of Islam, which instantly resulted in a violent protest.
Demonstrators, who were armed with cutlasses, knives and other dangerous weapons, went round the town in groups, attacking non-Hausas and destroying their property.
Witnesses claimed that about four persons were killed, including the Chibuke, who was said to be the first to have been macheted to death.
Hospital sources disclosed that two burnt bodies were deposited at the General Hospital, Bichi, while residents said another person was also killed on the road leading to the Federal College Education (FCE) Bichi.
Also affected by the riots were several shops, churches and valuables belonging to non-Muslims.
The crisis was brought under control with the deployment of dozens of police and military personnel, Weekly Trust learnt.
One of the victims taking refuge at the police station, said he has spent 35 years in Bichi, adding that he has neither heard nor experienced attack on non-Hausas, until the one of Thursday morning.
Samuel, who was addressing the district head of Bichi and other members of the local government security committee who paid them a visit, said even when religious riots broke out in other parts of the state or the country, the people of Bichi had never targeted non-Muslims in their midst.