going the rounds that the remains of some of their kinsmen killed in Monday’s terror attack have been secretly buried in mass graves as disturbing.
He said neither the Police nor any other agency of government had the right to bury a corpse without the knowledge or consent of the relatives.
Idika told one of our correspondents in a telephone interview on Thursday that members of the association were worried because several families were still looking for the corpses of their relatives.
However, the Police Force PRO, Chief Superintendent Frank Mba, denied claims of secret burials. He told one of our correspondents that, “the allegation is false and baseless.”
According to the Ohaneze president, 72 families have so far come forward to declare their family members either dead or missing, saying it will not be fair for people to continue searching for bodies that had been buried.
Idika said, “We are worried about reports of secret mass burials some people are informing us that some bodies have been hurriedly and secretly buried by the police.
“And that the excuse is that the bodies were burnt beyond recognition, no matter how badly burnt, we want to see the bodies of our brothers and sisters. So far, seventy- two families have come forward with names of relatives who are either missing or dead.
“Since yesterday (Wednesday) when 35 dead bodies were identified by relatives, more people have been able to identify their people. I don’t have the exact number yet because we have been receiving visitors and attending meetings since morning.”
Commenting on burial arrangements for corpses already identified, he said each family, with the assistance of their individual state, village and town associations will make the arrangements.
He said, “ The family and communities, where each of them comes from will make private arrangements.
“As at today, nobody has left yet, because we are still processing police permits so that we can be allowed to collect the bodies from the mortuary before taking them home. We intend to move them separately.”
The police, however, said they had no incentive to encourage secret burial of the victims.
Mba, Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, explained that the police could not have encouraged the secret burial of the blast victims because they were not killed by policemen. He stressed that the Force had nothing to hide or gain by secretly burying victims of the horrible attack.
He said, “That allegation is totally false and makes no sense because we have nothing to gain by secretly burying the victims; they were not killed by the police, so we have no incentive to do that.”
Findings also revealed that emotions have been running high and allegations of this nature could be as a result of the trauma occasioned by the huge losses suffered by the relations of the victims, some of whom have been unable to locate the remains of their family members.
Meanwhile, a Federal Government delegation comprising the Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro; Police Affairs, Caleb Olubolade; and Minister of State for Defence, Olusola Obada, visited Kano to pay a condolence visit to victims of the blast.
The delegation visited the palace of the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, after which they also visited the injured at the Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital.
The team then proceeded to the scene of the incident at New Road Sabon Gari before heading to Government House to meet with the State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso.
In a related development, youths of Igbo extraction, under the auspices of the Igbo Youths Association, have called on their kith and kin in the northern part of the country to relocate to safer parts of the country to avoid the ongoing waste of human lives in the country.
