Youth corps members narrate ‘brutal’ experiences in Kano

Some members of the National Youth Service Corps, who escaped from different parts of Kano State during the Monday riot and now taking refuge in Bukavu Barracks have described their experiences as horrifying.

Speaking with our correspondent in Kano on Thursday, Maiva Johnson, a 25-year-old Zoology graduate of the University of Maiduguri, said though he was lucky not to be in the tick of the crisis, he was however, happy that some army officers scurried his group to safety.

Maiva,who said “the experience was not funny at all,” lamented that the rioters stormed the Corpers Lodge in Badawa area in Nassarawa Local Government area of the metropolis threatening to kill all of them.

“You know, we were together in my place at Zoo Road, but when I came to the corpers lodge in Badawa, I was told of how the demonstrators stormed the lodge threatening to kill everybody. I was scared. But, I was not directly affected”.

Titilayo Anasanwo, 26, a Marketing graduate of Kwara State University, who was caught up at Kurna Makaranta Corpers Lodge, said she was caught up in the midst of the uprising.

She said she was rescued by soldiers on Monday.

“They said we are now government property, that they want to kill us. They accused us of rigging election in favour of President (Goodluck) Jonathan, but that is a big lie. Their agents were present at the polling booths and they were given the result papers to sign which they did. Then, how did we rig the election in favour of anybody?” Anasanwo queried.

According to her, the recued corps members were in Bukavu barracks, where they could not move out until situations returned to mormalcy.

For the University of Calabar graduate of Regional Planning, 25-year-old Simon Okam, was holed up at the 9th Squadron Mobile Police Barracks, where he fled to.

He had escaped from the mayhem before the Director General of the National Youth Service Corps, Major-General Maharazu Tsiga, came to convey them to Bukavu barracks 9am Thursday morning.

He described the attack as brutal and nasty. “We barely managed to escape. Now, you cannot go out with your corps uniform, because they threatened they will attack anyone they see in our service uniform,” he said.

-Punchwp_posts