OFFICERS from the Kano State Police Command have arrested 15 persons in connection with the recent burning of Baptist Church in Gidan Maso Village in Rogo Local Government Area of the state. 

On Friday, hoodlums attacked the church, setting it ablaze, trapping the local vicar Reverend Habila Garba whose daughter died of suffocation in the fumes. This attack came barely one week after a similar incident at the Living Faith Church popularly called Winners Chapel in Giwa, Kaduna State. 

In Kano, however, the authorities have acted swiftly, apprehending some suspects and the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Mohammed II, has promised to rebuild the church. Although the Kano State government sent one Alhaji Is’haq to assess the situation, the Christian community were said to have been disturbed by his statement that such an insignificant issue and destruction does not call for any mention at all. 

Retired General Ishaku Ahmed Dikko, the president of Tarayyar Masihiyawan Nijeria or Hausa, Fulani and Kanuri Christians, noted that in spite of the arrests, four youths were still roaming about boasting and threatening the Christians because they have not been arrested. He called for urgent action to apprehend these youths. 

General Dikko said: “In response to the cry of Tarayyar Masihiyawan Nigeriya on the incident and the publicity given to it by the press, we received attention from the Nigerian Police Force, the Emir of Kano and the Kano State government. The Nigerian Police Force went and inspected the damage and on April 5 they arrested six youths and later on, they went back to arrest nine more who are all at the Kano State Police Command Criminal investigation Department. 

“The action of the police pacified and encouraged the Christian community. One of our own, Barrister Inusa Bako, is representing our interest and monitoring the prosecution which is now in the hands of the Kano State Commissioner of Police. 

He explained that on April 9, the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi Mohammed II, invited the Rogo district head, Dagacin Kadana, the local Christian Association of Nigeria (Can) chairman Reverend Bulus Fara, the Baptist Church pastor, Reverend Haliba Garba and the Can public relations officer in Rogo Kabiru Garba to his palace. According to General Dikko, while there, the district head read out the details of what transpired and the Emir expressed his dismay at what happened.