We were told Boko Haram would attack on Sunday – Victims

Christian leaders in the ancient city of Zaria, Kaduna State, where suicide bombers attacked two churches on Sunday, said they had a premonition of the attack. Secretary of the Second ECWA Church, one of the churches that were bombed, Rev. Chris Dariya, told Governor Patrick Yakowa, who visited the affected churches on Tuesday that they got information that the Boko Haram sect had perfected plans on Friday to bomb the churches on Sunday. 

He said the leaders were surprised that on Saturday, the military personnel that were attached to the church were withdrawn. According to the cleric, not wanting to be confrontational with the soldiers, he had to let them be. “We were baffled why the soldiers that have been stationed here for quite some time were eventually pulled out only for the church to be hit the following day,” he said. While saying that as christians, they had forgiven the perpetrators of the heinous act, he noted that about 200 children at the Sunday School, when the explosion took place, escaped unhurt.

  He said, “We were cautioned on the fact that Boko Haram were already in Zaria. We heard vividly that there was a meeting on Friday and the Chairmen and secretaries of CAN Zone 1 were actually invited for a meeting. We were told that Boko Haram were already in Zaria and they were going to strike this Sunday. “There were soldiers that were actually patrolling and guarding the area. I saw them parking their things and I drove there and asked two of them what was happening and what we heard which I am sure they heard too. “I was told that the community was disturbing them and that was why they have to move.

 I told them that it was not the community that kept them here, but the government. But they told me they were ordered, but I don’t know where the order came from.” Yakowa noted that if the state was peaceful, the entire country would enjoy peace. According to him, whatever happens to the state will have negative impact on the nation. “If Kaduna state has peace, Nigeria would be at peace. We have been told time without number, anything that happens in Kaduna has repercussion throughout this country,” he said. Meanwhile, the Army authorities denied claims by the Second ECWA Church, Wusasa that they withdrew soldiers at a checkpoint in the church. 

 Commandant of the Depot Nigerian Army, Brigadier-General Hussaini Salihu, said the claim was false as there was never a time a military post was stationed at a particular location around the church. Salihu, who said this in a telephone interview noted that the church in question never applied for soldiers to guard them, adding that as part of a routine check, soldiers from the Depot Command usually patrol the entire Zaria and its environs.

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