Kano grounded as non-indigenes flee

Posted by admin Boko Haram, Headlines, Kano, State News Sunday, January 29th, 2012

In the history of Kano State and in its relationship with the non-native communities that seek their means of livelihood in the state, there has never been such a panic rush to get out of the state by the same people that once called the state their home.

With the multiple bombing in the state carried out by the dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram, residents of the state are counting their teeth with their tongue and they are running as fast as the famous Usain Bolt out of the state.

The dash out of Kano had been noticeable in small measures before now, especially after the anti-fuel subsidy removal protest in the state that equally took a violent turn and led to loss of lives. But the exodus became worse after the event of last Friday. All of a sudden, the people are traveling in a hurry. Panic and fear is everywhere. Hundreds of mothers, with their children strapped to their backs, are now on the streets of Kano. The picture of a people at war comes to mind each time one visits Sabon-Gari Quarters of the state.

There are also young girls, students, members of the National Youth Service Corps and all manner of persons are on the roads, trekking or driving to the motor parks, especially the luxury bus parks. The traffic of human beings and motor vehicles leading to the various motor parks is hellish.

At the various bus offices along New Road in Sabon-Gari, echoes of loud horns, cars, big and small lorries, trucks and a bedlam of chaotic noise was the order of the day on this Friday. The chaos started early in the day as soon as the curfew hours were over at 6a.m. It picked up as the morning sun rises and by noon it was like hell. Usually, mornings are reserved for the ticket rush, as passengers that have to travel by noon must buy their tickets and get their load into the vehicles in the morning ahead of the journey.

In the last few days, however, this too had changed, as the booking for tickets, which had become a very scarce commodity, must be done 24 hours earlier. It was gathered that the extension was because the anticipated number of vehicles from the South East or other Southern states, for one reason or the other, may not arrive on schedule.
According to Mr. Clement Apeh, a staff of G.U. Okeke Motors, “this is the biggest rush ever in the history of luxury bus business in Kano,” adding that not even the Christmas rush for seats had recorded the kind of pressure witnessed in the last one week since the Boko Haram sect held the state captive.

Apeh, who hails from Enugu-Ezike in the Nsukka area of Enugu State, disclosed that four to five luxury buses leave the state every day and that it was still not enough. At the motor park along New Road on Friday morning, a number of passengers, who spoke to our correspondent, said “it is goodbye to Kano” as they will never return to the state. One of them is daughter of the king of Mbu Akpoti in Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of Enugu State, Princess Ndidiamaka Nnaji. Mrs Nnaji told the Sunday Sun: “I am going because of the violence in the state, especially the violence of last Friday and the violence in the North generally.

“It affected me in a special way because it affected my friend, Franklin Ogbodo. They killed her junior sister and the painful thing was that the lady had already bought her ticket and was on her way out of Maiduguri when they shot at her in front of her shop. “Honestly, I believe that Governor (Rabiu) Kwankwaso has tried his best. I think that is why things have been this good in Kano. We can see his efforts. But this problem is different. Once you are caught by the storm, there will be no second chance.”

For Madam Ijeoma Nwoye, a mother of five from Ebonyi State, “the problem is not just about fear alone. Even if you have a lion heart, when you see people traveling home in this large number, you have to think twice and find your way when the road is still available for you. The whole thing is looking like the pre-civil war exit from the North. You have to use act wisely, except you don’t have a relative that loves you. Your people at home will continue to disturb you and beg you and cry to you to just come back and stay for a while. The heat from what they see and read in the papers is so much.”

Speaking further, she said; “All I am trying to do is to save my life and my family when our destiny is within our control. Honestly I don’t want to go. I know it is going to be tough. That is economically we are going to pass through challenging times at home. But I also know that it is better to be poor and alive than to be rich in the grave.”
Ironically, most of the young men, especially those who have their businesses in the state, are not moving. Some of them were sighted in front of their tyre shops and at different markets just as some of them employed by the federal government and the private sector are staying put for now. In their thinking, it is easier for a single person to escape than for a man and his entire family. There is also the reasoning that the family must stay alive economically. Which means that the men have to stay back and hope that there will be no more horror. But that may well change if the sect strikes again.

As a result of the migration, the human population in Sabon-Gari has depleted. Many houses are now vacant. Flats are also empty because the men, who are left behind, prefer to pair up with colleagues in times like this. Accommodation, which was rarely available in the state capital, can now be easily accessed. A few shops in the state capital are also closed because some of their owners have not returned from the Christmas holiday. Indeed, the once boisterous, never sleeping Sabon-Gari is gradually becoming a ghost town.

Many primary and nursery schools are still shut while that resumed after the Christmas break now have no students. At the Supreme Nursery and Primary School along New Road in Sabon-Gari, unarguably one of the best and most popular schools within the Igbo community in the state capital, the story of pupil’s absence was very obvious.
According to the Head Teacher, Mrs. Blessing Alex Ubani, from Abia State, the management has since announced the resumption date for the new academic term and the teachers were in school, but there were no pupils unlike before. Sunday Sun observed only few pupils were in the school even as parents were seen coming to collect their children’s certificates or their books.

“We have resumed; our school is open. But the turnout is very poor. People are leaving despite the fact that we are open,” she stressed. From her encounter with the parents, she noted that they were leaving the school because of last Friday’s tragic incident.”They are leaving because of the recent bomb blasts in Kano, the shootouts and all that has happened. They don’t feel secure in the state any more and most of them may not be coming back soon. They are actually coming for their children’s books and things like that. They want to change the school for their children when they get home,” she explained.

The management, she added, has been trying to persuade most of the parents to rethink their decision. “But the truth of the matter is that they don’t even want to listen to whatever you are saying. Their minds, from all indication, have been made up. There is the fear based on the rumour that they are about to attack non-indigenes, schools and churches. So they don’t even want to sit down and listen to you. All they want to do now is to leave Kano first.”
The hospitability industry like several other sectors of the economy of the state has been seriously affected. Businesses have ground to a halt. For the past one month, nightlife has suffered an untold onslaught. Twice in the month of January, the state government was forced to impose curfew on the state.

An expert in the hospitality sector said the biggest threat to the industry is that nobody is in a hurry to come to the state while even those that are there are leaving. The exodus is beginning to affect the state government. “The government in conjunction with a number of stakeholders are doing all that should be done to calm nerves and reassure residents to stay back,” according to the Director of Press, Alhaji Baba Dantiye.

He told Sunday Sun that the government was making sure that the security of lives and property was guaranteed, hence it is working round the clock with the security agencies to ensure that nobody is made to lose his or her life in the state again. The Director of Press recalled that on Thursday, the Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, was in the state to see things for himself. “You heard him say that the information that they have been receiving about the state was not the whole truth. In fact, the Imo State Governor appealed to the people of his state and the Igbo people in general not to leave the state; that Kano State is their home,” Dantiye added.

On what Governor Kwankwaso was doing to reach out to the different communities fleeing the state, he said he has been meeting various stakeholders and groups since the attacks happened. “But I must add that the attack is not tribal or religious. There is no group that can say that they were targeted. It is something that was targeted at the security agencies,” he added. But will the fleeing non-indigenes heed the appeal from the government? Only time will tell.

-Sunwp_posts

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Posted by admin on Jan 29 2012. Filed under Boko Haram, Headlines, Kano, State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry