Adamawa State governor Admiral Murtala Nyako Rtd yesterday declared a dusk to dawn curfew in the state following Friday’s attack which left no fewer than 12 persons dead. The action, LEADERSHIP SUNDAY, sources said,was to forestall an escalation of the crisis.?
The governor who made the declaration as fears pervaded Yola, the state capital that the Boko Haram sect which claimed responsibility for the killings may have relocated to Adamawa following their state of emergency imposed in their previous hotbeds; Borno, Yobe and Niger states.
The Friday attack carried out on a church by gunmen suspected to be members of Boko- Haram, came the same day a similar incident had claimed over 20 lives in Mubi, a commercial town in Adamawa state.
An eyewitness told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY that four gunmen came into a church, Christ Apostolic Church, located at Church Street in Jimeta- Yola, Friday evening when church members were worshipping and opened fire, killing 12 people and leaving several others wounded, including three women who are now receiving treatments at the federal medical center and the specialist hospitals, Yola.
All efforts to get an accurate figure of those that lost their lives in all the attacks proved abortive as the police were said to be having security meetings. In Yola shops closed downs and people deserted their places of work for fear of unknown.
Gov. Nyako who commiserated with the families and relatives of those who lost their lives in the shootings, described it as evil and criminal. He assured the people that the security agencies were working to track down the perpetrators of the act. He also pledged a reward of N25m to any person or group of persons who provide useful information that could lead to the arrest of the perpetrators.
The governor who appealed to non-indigenes not to contemplate leaving the state, promised to bear all burial and medical expenses on behalf of the affected families.
“There are no reasons let alone excuses for these murderers to kill and maim. The first set of those acts were meted to persons of same ethnicity or religion. We are not accepting that. These are evil and criminal acts clearly horrible, ill motivated and irreligious,” he added.