ALL was normal and quiet. It was time for the sacrament – the blessing of the bread and wine in commemoration of the Last Supper – by the parish priest. Time was about 8.30am.
A young man driving a Honda CRV, a rosary dangling on his neck, approached the church’s gate. He was turned back. Pretending to be leaving, he reversed the vehicle. Then, he stepped heavily on the throttle to send the vehicle into full speed and rammed it into the children’s section at St. Rita’s Catholic Church, Ugwan Yero in Mallai, Kaduna.
A deafening noise, crashing bricks and a dusty skyline. Then some calm and time to attend to the dead – 8 – and the injured – scores.
Among the injured was the Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Bonni.
An eyewitness, Ishaku James, said: “There are so many injured people who have been taken to hospitals, like Garkuwa Hospital, Saint Gerald Catholic Hospital, Army 44 Reference Hospital and Barau Dikko Specialist Hospital.
“We are still looking for the Reverend father; he sustained serious injuries on the face but we don’t know which hospital he has been taken to. We cannot say for now whether he survived the attack or not. We don’t know where he is now, but, initially, we took him to Garkuwa General Hospital.
“The priest was saying ‘it is well, it is well, it is well’ while his face was covered with blood. The suicide bomber used Honda CRV Jeep. The bomb blast happened at about 8.30 am when the Parish Priest was blessing the sacrament.
“Even if there were security men, they couldn’t have stopped the bomber because he came driving with force and crashed through the fence of the church, and not through the gate of the church. The car used by the bomber got burnt, and the body of the bomber was dangling against the wall of the church.
Miss Jacinta Oko, who was also affected, said: “We just heard the loud sound of the bomb blast when they were preparing to take Holy Communion. But before I knew what was happening, I found myself on the ground.
“I can say that so many people died because it affected the side where the choir members were sitting. The service was about faith and healing. The Priest preached about God’s possibility. He said with faith, everything is possible.
“He gave us the story of King Solomon; how God healed him. He said whatever we do, we should hold onto our faith, and that everything will be alright. So the mass was okay. He was about giving communion when the blast happened.”
Thirty-year-old Veronica Johnson told our correspondent that they were in the middle of the service when suddenly she heard a loud explosion.
Veronica, who was with her two children at the St. Gerard Catholic Hospital, said: “We were in the church, and it was during the consecration when everybody was kneeling down and praying, and all of a sudden, we heard the deafening sound of the bomb blast. When I looked back, I saw a jeep that forced itself through the wall of the church fence from behind into the church premises.
“The blast occurred near where the choristers were sitting. So many people died, and so many people were injured. I saw some people lying down flat within the church premises. All of my four children were in the church when the thing happened, but my husband was not in the church. They all sustained injuries. One is just four months old; I am 30 years old from Benue State.”
St. Gerald’s Hospital spokesman Sunday John Ali said “We are managing 14 injured persons who were brought here from the church incident. The parishioners said they took the parish priest to a hospital, but not St. Gerald. Right now, we do not know where he is.”
There were reports that three bodies and 35 injured persons were taken to the 44 Army Reference Hospital. Four bodies and over 88 injured persons to Barau Dikko Specialist Hospital; 14 injured persons were taken to Saint Gerard Catholic Hospital.
The report also said one body and 14 injured persons were taken to Garkuwa Hospital, three injured persons were taken to Giwa Hospital and two injured persons were taken to Yusuf Dantsoho Hospital.
An eyewitness, who identified himself simply as Andrew, said the lone bomber was wearing a cross chain disguising himself as a Christian driving a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) with a tinted glass.
Some of the church securitymen were quoted as saying that they tried to stop the bomber from entering the church compound on the grounds that no vehicle was allowed to park inside the church premises. “The man came and we tried to stop him, he pretended as if he was reversing and all of a sudden, manoeuvred his way on a high speed and rammed through the church fence into the building.
A loud explosion was the next thing we heard.”
One of the Choir leaders, Mr Ezekiel Daniang, recalled the attack. He said: “As usual, we sing in between mass activities. I had just finished conducting one of such interval songs and I left to attend to another function within the church, when, all of a sudden, I heard a loud sound.
“The people that were mostly affected are my choir members and the children, although some other members of the church like those on the altar and the priest were also affected, two persons died instantly including the suicide bomber, but there were over 150 others injured with some in critical condition right now” he said.
An altar boy, Emmanuel Thomas, said the intervention of the Parish Priest saved him. “If not for the parish priest who drew me away, I would have suffered more injuries than I did. When we heard the first sound, the priest thought it was a spark of light. Then suddenly a heavy blast occurred, crushing the wall of the church and people started running. The next place I found myself was in this hospital”.
There was tension across the city as the news of the explosion spread. Some youth embarked on a reprisal, but the timely intervention of security agents saved what would have been another round of bloodletting.
Churches hurriedly closed services and sent their members home. Shops and markets were also hurriedly closed. Security officials started patrolling the city to stop any breakdown of law and oders.
Heavily armed security personnel were seen patrolling the streets to prevent any possible breakdown of law and order.
Apart from the church whose building was partially destroyed, many other houses were either destroyed or had their roofs blown off.
Christian youths took to the streets with machetes and sticks after the blast, targeting those they believed to be Muslims as anger again boiled over due to repeated church bombings in recent months.
A mob beat a motorcycle taxi driver near the church, then put his bike on top of him before dousing him with petrol and setting him on fire, an AFP correspondent who saw the violence said. Two other bloodied bodies, apparently killed by the mob, were seen near the church.
A rescue official, on condition of anonymity, also spoke of the man being burnt and said rescuers could not save him because the mob was too violent.
The mob also attacked an ambulance in the ensuing violence, but there was no indication that rescuers were wounded.
The Kaduna State Government called for calm and urged the people to ignore rumours of reprisal for the bombing.
In a statement Mr. Reuben Buhari, the Senior Special Assistant (Media) to Governor Patrick Yakowa, said anyone caught spreading such false information would be made to face ‘the full wrath of the law’.
He condoled with those who lost their loved ones and properties in the blast.
Buhari stressed that the security agencies were on top of the situation and assured residents of adequate security.
“So far we have eight dead and 145 injured from the church blast,” Musa Ilallah, regional coordinator for the National Emergency Management Agency, told AFP, noting that his death toll included the suspected bomber.
NEMA’s Kaduna Zonal Public Relations Officer, Aliyu Muhammed, said bodies of the victims had been deposited at various hospitals in the city.
According to NEMA, four of the bodied were deposited at Barau Dikko Specialists Hospital, three at 44 Military Hospital, while one has been deposited at the Garkuwa Specialist Hospital.
The statement said 81 injured persons were receiving treatment at Barau Dikko Specialist Hospital, while 35 others were being treated at 44 Military Hospital.
It said that 15 injured persons were also receiving treatment at St. Gerrad’s Hospital with five among them in critical condition.
Spokesman of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Yushau Shuaib, said: “A number of casualties have been evacuated to hospitals.” He confirmed that “the incident was suspected to be triggered by a suicide bomber in a car.”
There are conflicting information regarding the number of the dead.
Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Kaduna, the Most Rev. Matthew Ndagoso, said only four people died, adding that the number of those injured were still being collated from five hospitals.
The Bishop said the Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Bonni, was receiving treatment at the Multi-clinic and was in a stable condition. He described the attack as most inhuman.
Rev. Ndagoso said: “It could have been worst. I have gone round all the hospitals where those injured were taken to in Kaduna. The saddest part of it is the children that where affected.
“The impact was at the children section of the church. All the five hospitals I visited so far, most of the victims are children. You began to wonder that a human being in his full senses could do this kind of thing.
“I think that people who can do this kind of thing need sympathy. I am convinced that they are out of their own mind. I know it is a very difficult and painful thing, but my message to the Christian community is that difficult situations do not make us less Christian, no matter how difficult the situations are.
“In the same vein, difficult situations do not make us less human. We remain human and even in the most difficult and trying situations. This is my call, to Christians and Catholic Youth: never and never should they retaliate. I urge them not to retaliate because two wrongs can never make a right.
“I am convinced that there are few individuals in this country who really want to plunge this country in to a difficult situation and they will stop at nothing. So, my call to Christians and Muslims is that the vast majority of us who believe in this country should never give them the chance, no matter what they do; we must ensure that we shame them”.
The blast created tension across the city as some youths went on a reprisal, but security men were immediately sent into the streets to maintain law and order.
Commissioner of Police Olufemi Adenaike, who visited the scene of the blast, urged residents to be calm, adding that security operatives were on top of the situation. He said he could not ascertain the number of the dead.
He said soldiers and the police as well as other sister security agencies were deployed in the area to ensure safety.
