The Kaduna State Government has announced a ban on street trading and begging following Tuesday morning’s bomb explosion in the university town of Zaria.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai, who announced the attack in a Twitter post this morning, later visited victims in the hospital.
El-Rufai’s spokesman, Samuel Aruwan, said in a statement: “All beggars and hawkers are to stay off the streets until further notice. Any beggar or hawker found on the streets will be arrested until these measures are relaxed.”
The governor further announced the deployment of extra security forces across the state.
Malam El-Rufai, Aruwan stated further, “urged the people of the state to shun large gatherings but, where that is impossible, to exercise and practise maximum vigilance and vigorous checks on persons, vehicles and luggage.
“The state government will announce further steps to strengthen our security and safety in the next few days, and call on our people to cooperate fully with law enforcement agencies in these trying times.”
The governor also reiterated that the ban on motorcycle taxis (achaba) remains in force, and that the law would be strictly enforced in this regard.
He commended the people of the state for promptly embracing the crucial necessity of watchful vigilance and attention to security.
He urged residents of the state to report all suspicious persons and movements to security agencies.
Terrorists suspected to be Boko Haram members on Tuesday morning detonated explosives that killed and injured several persons at the secretariat of the Sabon-Gari local government council.
At least three gunmen also opened fire on the workers.
The casualty count as at 12 noon was 25 fatalities, including a two-year old child. Thirty-two injured persons were being treated at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria and other hospitals in the city.
The blast went off as residents welcomed the new chairman of the interim management committee of the local government to his office at the secretariat.
Some local government staff from Lere and Ikara were also undergoing biometric verification at the venue.
Zinari Shehu, a local radio journalist who was at the scene, said the bomb went off at around 10 a.m. in Zaria’s suburb of Gogarawa.
“Three gunmen dressed in black opened fire at the scene inside the secretariat, that was when I ran out,” Ibrahim Mohammed, a local government worker, told Reuters.
