Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Thursday, demanded the sacking of the Commissioner of Police in Kano State, Mr. Sama’ila Dikko, for jumping to conclusion that the explosion that rocked the Sabon Gari area of the state on Tuesday was a gas explosion and not a bomb blast.
HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, lambasted the police boss for declaring the root cause of the disaster without any investigation, even as residents and eyewitnesses strongly said on live television interviews that the explosion was as a result of a bomb blast.
The explosion rocked the Aba Road of the area in the early hours of Tuesday, killing nine
with many others injured.
The state Commissioner of Police (Dikko) had while giving an update on the incident, said it was a gas explosion from a welder’s shop close to a nursery and primary school.
But eyewitnesses disagreed with the police boss saying the incident “was not a gas explosion, but a bomb, due to the high-density vibration,” emphasising that it shook houses located about five kilometre away from the scene of the explosion.
Reacting, HURIWA’s Onwubiko said, “Eyewitness spoke with Arise TV showed and they contradicted what the police said. The witnesses said it was a suicide bomber that detonated a bomb killing himself and many others but the police lied.
“HURIWA calls for the dismissal of the police commissioner for jumping to conclusion on the cause of the explosion even before any sort of investigation is done.
“We also call for a judicial commission of inquiry by the Kano State Government together with the Federal Government and Southern Governors’ Forum because the target of the bomb blast were Igbos and other Southerners that dominate Sabon Gari Kano.
“We also call for independent forensic probe to be done too to determine the actual cause of the explosion that eye witnesses are now attributing to bomb blasts
“The police must show discipline and professionalism without jumping into conclusion but by exercise diligence and scrutiny in its investigations.”
May 18, 2022
Emmanuel Onwubiko
National Coordinator – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA).
