Zaria Massacre: Kaduna Ssg Says 347 Corpses Buried After Shites/soldiers Clash

BEVERLY HILLS, April 12, (THEWILL) – The Secretary to the Kaduna State Government, SSG, Malam Balarabe Lawal disclosed on Monday that a total of 347 corpses were given a mass burial at the Mando cemetery after the clash between soldiers and members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, better known as the Shiite's sect in Zaria last year.

Speaking when he appeared before the Judicial Commission of Inquiry, Lawal said the corpses were buried on December 14, 2015 in a cemetery along Mando/ Zaria Road, explaining that while 191 unidentified corpses were recovered from the Army Depot in Zaria, another batch of 156 corpses was retrieved from the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Shika.

Lending credence to the position of the SSG, the Director-General of the state's interfaith body, Muhammad Namadi Musa, who claimed he supervised the burial, said the corpses were interred between 12 midnight and 5am.

His words, “On December 13, 2015, I received a phone call from the SSG to come to the Government House after which I was directed to go to Zaria to find out the number of corpses and how they would be buried.

“I moved in company of the state Commissioner of Police straight to ABUTH, Zaria to ascertain the number of corpses. There we counted 156 corpses.

“At the Nigerian Depot, the SSG directed me to meet with one Major Ogundare regarding the corpses there. After introducing myself, he refused to let me know the number; but later on, the SSG called me and told me the number.

“He also confirmed the number while they were being buried; as he counted them one after the other as they were laid in one grave.

“We left the Nigerian Army Depot with three heavy-duty trucks and 60 young officers who escorted us to assist in offloading the corpses. From ABUTH, Zaria, five small trucks carried the 196 corpses. Most corpses were covered with black materials and they included women and children.”

On why the state government demolished the Gyelasu residence of the Shiite leader, the Hussainiyya Centre, Dembo centre, Jushi and two other buildings belonging to Alhaji Aminu Idris and Alhaji Tijjani Mohammed, the Kaduna scribe explained that they were pulled down because they did not meet the safety standards set by the state government.

Stressing that a report from a team of engineers who carried out inspection on the houses said the buildings were failed structures, he averred that “they were demolished in the interest of safety.”