Dark Cloud Causes Security Scare in Kaduna

A crowd at the scene

A little scare rocked the calm boat yesterday, 24th May, 2011 in Kaduna. around 6.15pm when a thick black smoke enveloped the sky around Ibrahim Taiwo road. In a jiffy, a police and a millitary van as well as a couple of Operation Yaki bikes had arrived at the spot to ascertain the remote and obvious cause, like politicians like to say. A very curious crowd was gathering in no time and the sound of a fire engine followed shortly. 

We later found out that  "Sidi" also known as "Mai Gona" who farms close to the scene of the incident and had the habit of clearing the refuse on that road and burning it had done that again only that this time some numbers of old tires were used and that had increased the intensity of the fire. The firefighters did their job quickly and left. The cloud of smoke caused some confusion as I heard one of the millitary guys on his radio confirming what had just happened to another unit. As expected, a handful of people who had seen the smoke from a distance thought something was amiss and had started accessing it from the security perspective.

The Fire Service Truck

 Sidi was later taken away in the military van to the Gabasawa Police Station on Taiwo road while some of his family members were seen sobbing in fear of what could happen to him in the station and thereafter. Sidi just needs a slap on the wrist and some lessons on environmental issues. I hope they won't make a scape goat of him. This should also call KEPA to work and alert. If there was no refuse, Sidi would have had nothing to burn. It's a good thing that the security apparatus and the fire service acted in good time.

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