No fewer than 11 worshippers were killed in an arson attack on a mosque at Gadan village, Gezawa council area of Kano State, that was purported to have arisen out of inheritance dispute. Dozens of other worshippers were badly burnt and taken to hospital, with at least one dying while on hospital admission.

Reports said 38-year-old Shafi’u Abubakar locked worshippers in at the mosque penultimate Wednesday when they were observing their dawn (‘Subhi’) prayer, sprayed the building with fuel and set it ablaze with the worshippers, including children, trapped inside. Residents were cited saying flames engulfed the mosque following the attack, with worshippers heard screaming as they struggled to open the locked doors. Before help came, many were burnt to death and many others incurred aggravated burns. Eyewitnesses further said first responders were latecomers to the prayer who struggled to open the mosque’s locked doors to enable those trapped within to break out. Men of the police force and personnel of the fire service in Kano were subsequently deployed at the scene.

The police later confirmed the arrest of the suspected arsonist, who they reported willingly turned himself in after the act. Kano State Police Command spokesperson, Haruna Kiyawa, a Superintendent of Police (SP), in a statement said Abubakar told the police that he set the mosque on fire out of bitterness against his relations who allegedly cheated him in the sharing of family inheritance, and who were present in the mosque at the time of the attack. “The principal suspect has been identified and arrested. He is Shafi’u Abubakar, aged 38 years, who said his action was purely in hostility following a prolonged family disagreement over sharing of inheritance, of which those that he alleged to have cheated him were in the mosque at that moment and he did that for his voice to be heard,” Kiyawa stated. He added: “While the suspect is currently in police custody, detailed investigation is ongoing and will be made public in due course.”

Senior police officers were reported dispelling any link between the incident and terrorism attack. Speaking to journalists when he led a delegation of security personnel to visit the attack victims at Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital in the state capital, Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone 1, Umar Sanda, said: “What happened is not associated with any act of terrorism. Rather, it was a skirmish that arose from inheritance distribution. The suspect was said not to be satisfied with the distribution and was reacting to that. He is presently with us and is giving out useful information.”

The arson incident apparently also entailed some explosion, such that the police initially suspected it was a bomb attack. In a statement on the heels of the incident, the command spokesperson said: “Today, 15/05/2024, at about 0520hrs, reports were received that there was an explosion at a mosque in Gadan village, Gezawa LGA, Kano State, during ‘Subhi Prayer’ and that some people got injured. On receipt of the report, the Commissioner of Police, Kano State Police Command, Mohammed Usaini Gumel, immediately deployed the command’s combined teams consisting of experts in explosive ordnance disposal – chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear – led by CSP Haruna Isma’il, and other crime scene policemen led by the Divisional Police Officer, Gezawa division, Haruna Iliya.

“The scene was cordoned off and 24 victims, including 20 male adults and four male children, were removed and rushed to Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital, Kano, where they are receiving treatment.” At least one of those victims later died.

Community members were reported debating the mental health of the arson suspect. One of the attack survivors claimed that Abubakar had a history of violent behaviour in the village, saying he had in the past brandished a machete to threaten fellow villagers, and that authorities once arrested him and sent him to a psychiatric hospital for mental health evaluation.

Another community member who lost relations in the arson demanded justice, arguing that Abubakar’s attack was conscious and premeditated, and not due to mental illness. “He knows how to make money,” the community member was quoted saying, recalling that the arson suspect once engaged in local tricycle business to make ends meet.

The police have delinked the attack from terrorism and cited the suspect’s claim that it arose from bitterness over inheritance sharing. But the extremity of that bitterness casts doubt on Abubakar’s sanity and should reawaken society to mental health concerns. Of course, there is the possibility of a cultural factor of hubristic vengeance, for which the suspect should be brought to account as canvassed by Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf.

Still, society needs to work out how to address insidious mental health challenges that could flare into destructive violence when not tackled at incubative stages. There is also need for public orientation on identifying early warning signs in mental health patients, and institutional arrangements available for getting them necessary help. When Abubakar was contemplating his plot and putting the plans together, he must have betrayed tendencies that should have triggered an alarm in the community and advise his preemptive apprehension. Society failed those attack victims as much as Abubakar harmed them. (BusinessDay)

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