16 Kano Pregnant Women Barred from Hajj

The Kano State Pilgrims Welfare Board on Thursday said that 16 female intending pilgrims, discovered to be pregnant, had been barred from performing 2016 Hajj.

 The Executive Secretary of the board, Malam Abba Yakubu, disclosed this in an interview in Kano.

He said the affected pilgrims were detected during the medical and pregnancy test conducted by the committee set up to screen the pilgrims.

“All the 16 female intending pilgrims will not be allowed to go to the Holy land in compliance with the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) directive,’’ he said.

35 year Old Barber Kills Woman in Rape Attempt

Police in Kano on Wednesday arrested a 35-year-old barber, Mr. Shamsu Isah, for allegedly killing a 21-year-old woman at the Karkasara quarters in the Kano metropolis.

The Kano State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Magaji Majiya, confirmed the arrest of the suspect in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Kano.

Majiya said the deceased, Miss Rejoice Isaac, was allegedly murdered by the suspect on August 3 and buried in an uncompleted building at Karkasara Quarters.

He said after the arrest of the suspect, Isah led policemen to the area where he buried the deceased after killing her.

Those Who Condemned Kano Film Village Project Are Hypocrites – Fidelis Duker

The Nollywood industry was taken aback when it was reported earlier in the week that the Federal Government had cancelled the N3.7bn film village it had planned to build in Kano State.

It was reported that the clerics in the state had kicked against the project, saying it would promote immorality.

However, reacting to the move, popular filmmaker, Fidelis Duker, said it was unfortunate that such a laudable project had to be stopped because of such views.

“I was shocked when I heard the project had been cancelled. You need to look at the positive aspect of this film village. It would attract tourism; it would improve economy and create a viable industry for the region, not only to Kano.

Musa, Toddler Brutalised By Step Mother Flown Abroad for Treatment

Muritala Mohammed, the little boy almost killed by his step mum after she beat him to an inch of his life, broke his arms and legs, damaged his eye and genitals, and cut his tongue, has been getting help from various quarters, and the most recent is from wife of the president of Nigeria, Aisha Buhari.

Baby Musa has been flown abroad for medical treatment and he is being sponsored by the First Lady.

Police Arrest Stepmothers Who Tortured And Broke Two Year Old Boy's Arms and Legs

Police in Kano have arrested two housewives, Zainab and Hafsatu Musa, for allegedly torturing and breaking the legs and arms of a two-year-old boy.

The women are married to the same man but the child belongs to the third wife, who had packed out of the house. The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Magaji Majiya, said the incident occurred on Friday. 

According to him, when the women’s husband, Murtala Musa, came back home about 8pm, he met his two-year-boy laying in critical condition. 

The PPRO said on seeing the condition of the boy, Musa rushed him to the hospital where it was confirmed that his legs were broken and that blood was oozing from his nose and ears, while doctors said he might have problems with his eyes. 

Nigeria Police confirm suicide bomber, four others killed in Kano bomb blast

Five people, including a suspected suicide bomber, were killed in the bomb explosion that rocked Kano on Sunday night, the police have said.

In a text message to PREMIUM TIMES, the Kano police spokesperson, Magaji Majiya, said “there was a suspected suicide bomb blast at middle road by gold coast road, Sabon Gari Kano.”

“Five persons were killed including the suicide bomber,” he said adding that the corpses were promptly moved to the morgue as the police and other security agencies promptly arrived the scene.

The incident, which occurred at Gold Coast / Middle Road junction, also destroyed vehicles that were passing when the suicide bomber’s car exploded.

Man Gets Death Penalty For Raping Girl & Infecting Her With HIV

An Islamic court in Kano has sentenced a man to be stoned to death for raping a 13-year-old girl and infecting her with HIV. Such sentences under strict Sharia laws have been passed before but never carried out in Kano state. Past sentences have been commuted to life in prison.

The defendant, Ubale Sa’idu Dotsa, testified Wednesday that the Devil instigated him to have sex with the girl. The 63-year-old said he did not know he was infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Dotsa argued that the teenager tempted him by visiting his shop often at night.

Magistrate Faruk Ahmed ignored his plea for mercy. He said Dotsa was a married man who had committed adultery, which is punishable by death by stoning.

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Child Bride Forced into Marriage Kills Four Including Groom

The police have said that a child bride forced into marriage in Kano State prepared a poisoned meal that has killed her groom and three of his friends.

According to AFP, the police quoted 14-year-old Wasila Umaru as saying she used rat poison in the food because she was forced to marry a man she did not love. The couple was married last week.

The 35-year-old groom had invited a dozen friends to celebrate at his village 100 kilometres from Kano, the state capital, over the weekend.

35 Women In Kano Fail Mass Wedding Test Over HIV, Pregnancy

Thirty-five women were, disqualified by the Kano State Hisbah Board from participating in the mass wedding organized and sponsored by the state government. Those disqualified included 19 divorcees said to have tested positive to HIV and 16 others said to be pregnant.

Altogether, at least 1, 111 divorcees and widows from the 44 local government areas in the state were joined in matrimony at the City Central Mosque during a brief but colourful ceremony.

It is another round of mass wedding conducted by the Chief Imam of Kano Central Mosque, Professor Muhammad Zaharadeen. The event was attended by the state Deputy Governor, Dr Umar Ganduje, along with top Islamic clerics across the state.

Saudi-bound Plane Makes Emergency Landing in Sokoto As Tyres Explode Mid-Air

According to Sahara Reporters, a Saudi bound Kabo Air plane carrying 400 passengers from Kano made an emergency landing at the Sir Abubakar III International Airport in Sokoto early today Saturday October 5th.

The Boeing 747 jumbo jet which left Kano on Friday en route to Saudi Arabia had to divert to Sokoto after several of its tyres exploded immediately after it took off the Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano. All the passengers aboard the airline have been evacuated from the plane and lodged in a hotel in the ancient city.

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20 Die in Sabon Gari, Kano Bomb Blasts • 42 Boko Haram Suspects Arrested in Lagos, Ogun

No fewer than 20 persons were believed to have been killed in Sabon Gari area of Kano on Monday as suspected terrorists detonated about four bombs in the neighbourhood. It was learnt that one of the explosions, believed to have been carried out by Islamic sect, Boko Haram, occurred at a drinking joint in Sabon Gari, where most of the non-indigenes reside.

The blasts occurred on Igbo Road, Enugu Road and New Road, opposite Ado Bayero Square. The first blast was said to have occurred at about 9.12pm near International Hotel, while the second blast followed three minutes later.

Security forces immediately condoned off both sites, which prevented people from moving closer to the places hit by the explosions. A resident of the area, who spoke to one of our correspondents on the telephone, said there were series of explosions, which had created pandemonium in the commercial area of the state capital.

[Photos] Rivers State Uproar: Protesters Stoned Rotimi Amaechi’s Convoy, As Northern Governors Visit

There was commotion again in Rivers State as thousands of youths believed to be loyal to the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, on Tuesday, reportedly threw stones and other objects at the convoy of the Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa.

Vehicles in the convoy were conveying four northern governors – Sule Lamido (Jigawa); Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); Babangida Aliyu (Niger); and Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) – who were on a solidarity visit to Amaechi.

A bus in which some commissioners in the state were seated in was said to have had its windscreen smashed by the protesters.

But the State Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Angela Agabe, said,  “There was no time the governors’ convoy was attacked.

 “Nothing like that (attack) happened,” she said, adding that adequate security was provided at the airport to forestall any unpleasant development.

Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, who confirmed that a Government House bus was damaged by some youths, described the incident as a ploy by anti-democratic forces to cause confusion in the state.

Boko Haram Cris: Kano Arms Bunker

On May 28, 2013, security operatives uncovered an underground armoury in Kano, following a raid on a building in the highbrow area of the ancient city.

The house, which belongs to one Abdul Hassan Taher Fadlalla, a Lebanese, turned out to store a huge cache of arms and ammunition allegedly meant for a planned attack on Israeli and western interests in the country.

Checks by Sunday Sun revealed the aftermath of the arms discovery, the peculiar life of the Lebanese community and its overwhelming influence in Kano state.

Inside House No.3 Gaya Road

House No 3 Gaya Road belongs to Abdul Hassan Taher Fadlalla, a Lebanese who is currently out of the country. The white fence facing the street and a plain mosque primed to the wall, suggested an ‘innocent’ abode but the seeming innocence was shattered by the shocking find.

The Kano State Director of State Security (DSS), Mr Eteng Bassey, told journalists soon after the raid, that the discovery was after “a thorough” search.

Nigerian Security Agents Seal Off Amigo Supermarket Over Owner’s Alleged Link To Terrorism

Stern looking Soldiers, Policemen and agents of the Department of State Security (SSS) sealed the popular Amigo Supermarket in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. It was learnt that the fully kitted team of security personnel stormed the ever-busy supermarket and ordered both customers – who were still shopping and staffers out of the expansive building located on Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse 2 Abuja.

The move is not unconnected with the discovery of a large cache of arms and ammunitions in Kano by Nigerian security forces in which the owner of the supermarket, Fauzi Fawad, who is now at large, was fingered as a member of a Hezbollah cell in the state.

Joint Task Force Uncovers Lebanese Terror Cell in Kano, Nigeria

The Joint Task Force on Thursday said it had uncovered a Lebanon-based Hezbollah armoury and terror cell in Bompai, Kano State. The force, which said it found large cache of arms and ammunition, also confirmed the arrest of three persons in connection with the armoury and the cell.

A Lebanese national currently out of the country reportedly owns the premises where the armoury and the cell were found at No 3, Gaya Road, Off Bompai Road in the ancient city.

A statement by the JTF spokesman, Captain Ikedichi Iweha, said the JTF operatives, comprising officials of the 3rd Army Brigade in Kano and the State Security Service conducted the operations.

The operatives, he said, uncovered an underground bunker in the premises where large quantities of assorted weapons were hidden.

Bomb blasts kill 30 at Kano motor park, CAN says explosions show hypocrisy in call for amnesty

Report from Punch:

Monday  was  yet another bloody day in Kano as  over 30 passengers, drivers and visitors  lost their lives to explosions at an inter-state  luxury bus park in the city.

Hours before the  blasts, an Islamic militant group, Boko Haram members laid siege to some schools in Maiduguri,  Borno State, killing  four  teachers and injuring several others, including pupils.

The cause of the  Kano explosions which President Goodluck Jonathan described as barbaric, was uncertain as of 8pm on Monday. While some eyewitnesses attributed  it   to improvised explosive devices  planted in a luxury bus in the ever-busy park, others  said  it was  carried out by three suicide bombers.

Nigerian Journalists Granted bail by Chief Magistrate Court

Two journalists and a former Director-General of the Kano state Censorship Board, who were arrested by Kano state police command for allegedly inciting the killing of nine health workers in the state have been granted bail by Chief Magistrate Court 17.

The presiding Judge, Justice Ibrahim Bello in his ruling stated that having observed several provision of the constitution which give automatic bail to an offence that does not exceed three year jail term he granted the defendants a bail with payment of N100, 000 each and two sureties.

The sureties are to include a community leader and a head of department with the organisation where they work.

Police Parade Suspected Attackers of Emir of Kano - Ado Bayero

THE Nigeria Police Command in Kano, Monday, said it has found a clue to the attack on the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, by unknown gunmen on January 19, 2013.

To this effect, seven suspected Jihadists were arrested in connection with the said attack.

Speaking on the issue in Kano, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, said some of the arrested suspects include Adamu Sani, Malam Salisu Mohammed, Mubarak Isa, Surajo Salisu, Mohammed Auwal Hashim and Abdul Jalil Musa.

Gunmen Kill 9 Female Health Workers In Kano

Unknown gunmen have killed nine health workers in Unguwa Uku area of Kano metropolis, while they were carrying out polio immunization in the city.

Eyewitnesses claim that the gunmen who attacked the women were on a tricycle, when they opened fire on the victims identified as immunization staff.

According to another eyewitness account, “the victims may be immunization staff who go from house to house for immunization exercise”.