Post-election unrest:How I Escaped Death in Kano – Tofa

Posted by admin Kano, Latest Politics, State News Sunday, April 24th, 2011

A prominent politician and one time presidential candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC), Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa, had opened up to LEADERSHIP SUNDAY on how he escaped death when irate youths stormed his house last Monday in the wake of the riot to protest preliminary results of the presidential election.

Tofa, who lost parts of his two houses, 11 vehicles, two generating sets and a transformer to the rampage, said he escaped death by the whiskers.
Speaking with our correspondent yesterday, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) chieftain disclosed that he was still in shock and awe over what led to the attack of his houses and how it happened.
According to him, himself and other members of his family as well as the former speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Ghali Umar Na’Abba narrowly escaped mob action as they were in his house when the demonstrators stormed his residence.
He added that, Na’Abba and his mother, who is Tofa’s sister, had taken refuge at his house to avoid rioters who had earlier attacked Na’Abba’s house at the nearby Sharada Phase1. But Tofa faulted the insinuation that the youths had trailed Na’Abba to his house after he escaped, saying the two groups were different and came from different directions. According to him, “My house and Ghali (Na’Abba’s) were destroyed at the same time.”
“They came a moment after I went out from my house to the nearby house that I am building. The car I used that morning is the only vehicle I now have as they torched nine cars and buses and two motorcycles belonging to my house aides.” Tofa added.
According to the ANPP chieftain, the rioters entered the premises of the house but could not have access to the main house as those inside had locked the doors.
He said: “They destroyed all vehicles in the premises but could not have access to the inner house. My wife and the people around took refuge at the boys’ quarters and guest section, which are behind the main building.”
Tofa further explained that, after they had set all the vehicles ablaze, the protesters proceed to his new house which was adjacent to his main house.
“They pelted stones to destroy all the glasses and set some parts of it on fire. They destroyed all the things I had in a hall attached to the house and set it on fire. Even the mosque there was not spared,” he lamented.
On how he and the car he was using escaped the mob, Tofa explained that he hid behind the main house in the car. He however, maintained that it was only God that saved him as the rampaging youths did not search the backyard.
Tofa, who attributed the riot to poverty and neglect, said government and individuals had to device means of catering for youths to avert future occurrence of such carnage.
He, however, said he had left everything to God and prayed God to guide the disgruntled youths.
He also called on the federal government to check the influx of foreign nationals into the country without any good reason, saying that most of those who participated in the rampage were not Nigerians.
“These are the same set of people that engage in other meaningless ventures including street begging,” he said.wp_posts