BREAKING NEWS, Defence
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Balarabe Lawal, secretary to the Kaduna State government, testifies at the Judicial Inquiry Commission that 347 persons were killed during the Dec. 12 Shiite/Nigerian Army clash in Zaria, Northern Nigeria
THE Kaduna State Government has testified that 347 persons were killed during the Dec. 12 Shiite/Nigerian Army clash in Zaria, Kaduna State, Northern Nigeria. Balarabe Lawal, secretary to the state government, SSG, gave this testimony at the ongoing Public Hearing of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the clash on Monday, April 10.
Lawal, who led a six-man government witnesses before the panel, said that 191 corpses were taken from the Nigerian Army Depot, Zaria, and were buried in Mando area in Kaduna, while 156 corpses were also transferred from Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, ABUTH, Zaria, to the same Mando area.
The corpses which were that of youth members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, who allegedly attempted to attack the convoy of Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, chief of Army Staff, on Dec. 12, 2015, in Zaria, were mass buried into a single grave at the Mando area jointly supervised by the government officials and about 40 men of the Nigerian Army, led by an officer in the rank of a Major.
About 189 suspects were being prosecuted for alleged involvement in the Zaria crises while one suspect had died in custody, he said, adding that the government received several security reports from the Directorate of State Security, DSS, on the activities of the movement.
Several measures were taken to address the situation before it finally escalated into the clash with the Nigerian Army, he said.
Namadi Musa, another witness and director-general, Kaduna State Interfaith Agency, said the mass burial was conducted on Dec. 14 and Dec. 15, respectively, and it took the officials about six hours to complete the burial.
Musa said while six tonnes of Mercedes tippers conveyed the 191 corpses from the ABUTH, the Army used three heavy duty trucks to convey corpses from the Zaria Army Depot.
“The mass burial was authorised through a warrant of burial obtained from a Kaduna Chief Magistrates’ Court in Kaduna,” he said.
The state government blamed some of the lapses and the excesses of the movement on the inability of the previous government which did not take serious action to curtail the activities of the sect.
On alleged demolition of buildings and structures of the IMN leader, the witnesses said that the demolitions were based on recommendation of a committee set up by the state government.
The witnesses, including officials of KASUPDA, KAPWA and the state ministry of Works, Transport and Housing, told the panel that several other structures belonging to individuals had been demolished for poor building specifications and standards.
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that Saratu Haruna, general manager, KASUPDA; Namadi Musa, D-G Interfaith Agency; and Prof. Adamu Ahmed, deputy CMD ABUTH, appeared before the panel.
The Justice Muhammed Lawal-Garba panel also took submissions from the Izala Islamic group and Gyellesu Community in Zaria.
— Apr. 12, 2016 @ 8:40 GMT
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