The Kano State Government is bent on converting the scene of the bus station bomb blast into an Islamic school. Governor Rabiu Kwakwanso had earlier told the Igbo traders and transporters who built and developed the park to relocate to another place to give way to another Islamic school in the place. The governor, to buttress the seriousness of his threat, had earlier blocked the back gate of the luxury bus park towards the New Road/ Ibo Road junction and commenced clearing of the site and building of sections of the Islamic school.
A day before the bus station blast which killed over 65 Igbo travelers, the governor sent some thugs and state security outfit to the place to warn the traders and bus owners to vacate the place immediately or face bloody consequences. The Igbo communities were preparing to send a delegation to beg the governor to change his mind on the day the bomb exploded. Governor Kwakwanso is yet to either visit or send any top government official to condole the Igbos who lost lives and properties including five luxurious buses in the inferno but had visited Borno State and donated N100 million naira to victims of Baga incidence.
The Igbo leaders noted that on the day the blast occured, none of the Muslim indigenous workers at the site of the Islamic school and other sites around the bus station reported for work, fueling suspicion that the locals were pre-informed about the bomb blast . There is an allegation that Governor Kwakwanso told aides that the blast was Allah’s way of driving away his enemies and paving way for the Islamic school.
This was contained in a secret report the Ohaneze follow up team to Kano set up after the earlier visit of the Ohaneze leadership sent to select Igbo leadership . The follow up team discovered that there was no single security at the luxury bus park as at the time of their arrival and were worried that another blast could easily take off in the place. The team also discovered that Association of Luxury Bus Owners( ALBON), Kano State Branch, had already taken the Kano State Government to court over the park but the Governor defied the court and went on with his intentions.
The Igbo leaders in Kano lamented that the collateral casualty at the bus station could have been less had the governor not earlier ordered the closure of the back exit gate which connected the New Road to Ibo Road and as such when the blast occurred, there was no way for the other buses loaded with passengers to escape. The only exit being the Tudun Wada Road which connected the Airport road . The controversial bus park was an empty land sold to Anglican church fifty years ago and the church leased it to the luxury bus owners who developed the bus station to ensure greater security for non-indigenous travelers in the religious volatile state. The bus station is located in Sabon Gari, an area mapped out for strangers and non-indigenes . Therefore, the attempt by the State Government to forcibly convert the bus park to Islamic school is unfair as there are other empty lands all over Kano metropolis they can use for Islamic school.
Earlier on the Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero was under fire by elements within Kano State Government and some notable contenders for the Emir-ship throne for providing palace guards to secure Ohaneze leaders when they visited Kano two weeks before the follow up team came. They derided the Emir for providing security for the Ohaneze chieftains, alluding that they should have procured their President Jonathan to secure them. The Emir equally sent his first son to condole with the Igbos after the bloody bus blast .
The follow up team reported their findings to appropriate security agencies and sent a report to the leadership of Ohaneze and select Igbo leaders. The Igbos in Kano lamented that in one year over 63 persons have been secretly executed by Boko Haram agents either in their shops, offices or homes and if the number of those who died through bombings is included, about three hundred lives have so far been lost. They called on the Igbo leadership to come to their rescue or else they will bear heavy arms for self protection.
It is expected that the Ime Obi Ohaneze will deliberate on the matter in consultation with Igbo leaders and if possible take the matter up with the Kano State Government and the presidency. The Igbo leadership have asked the Ohaneze leader in Kano to ensure that Igbos do not take laws into their hands until the issue is resolved with the appropriate authority. How quick the Igbo leaders will act on this sensitive issue is another kettle altogether.
