Eight years after Boko Haram terrorists carried out a dreaded attack on the Kano Central Mosque, killing scores of worshippers, the Imam who led the Juma’at prayers that day, Prof. Sani Zahradeen, recounts how he escaped the attack.
It was reported that the terrorist sect attacked the Muslim worship centre on November 28, 2014. Reports had it that the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and dethroned Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi Lamido II was the terrorists’ target during the attack. Over 200 people were said to have died in the attack.
Narrating the incident during an interview with Trust TV, Prof Zahradeen, who is the Grand Imam of Kano Emirate, said he laid low in the mosque as the attack lasted one hour. According to him, they were in the mosque praying when they heard the loud sound of an explosion.
The cleric, who also was the Vice Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano (BUK), said, “That is about seven years ago, which is 28 November 2014, I finished reading the Khudba (sermon) and (we are) about to start praying when I said Allahu Akbar (Allah is the greatest) then I heard BOOM behind me, but I didn’t realize that there was anything. “But later on before I started reading (Qur’an), people started saying Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar in the back, my son was trying to see what was going on; some people were crying and (there was) shots outside. “My son, who took me to the mosque, came in trying to go outside, then I said no no, they were shooting outside; we stayed in the mosque for about one hour.” When asked if the Emir was in the mosque at the time and how he had possibly escaped, the Imam said, “The emir was not in the mosque at that time; he was not in the country, he was performing lesser hajj, but he heard about it, he called me and said ‘I just heard what happened, we were finishing up, I was on the way tomorrow Insha Allah.” However, he could not ascertain the number of people that died in the incident. According to him, some reports claimed more than 100 people died, but someone told him that there were over 500 casualties. “So today is the 7th anniversary and Insha Allah, we will pray for the dead souls,” Prof. Zahradeen said.
