Francis Emmanuel, a 41-year-old carpenter, was attacked yesterday in Kakuri, Kaduna, Kaduna State,by some Muslim boys for not fasting.
Emmanuel who was badly injured during the incident, sustaining deep machete cuts on various parts of his body, was thereafter rushed to the St. Gerald Catholic Hospital, for medical treatment.
“I went to buy wood to do some work. When I came back I bought food to eat. As I was eating about six Hausa boys came and asked me whether I am a Muslim or a christian. I did not answer them. They asked why am I not fasting? I told them that I am not a Muslim.
Before I knew it, one of them slapped me. As I stood up, the rest came and surrounded me and started attacking me with knives. I don’t know them. Nobody could come to my aid because of the type of dangerous knives they were carrying. They used cutlasses scissors and knives on me. I became unconscious, I don’t even know who brought me to the hospital." He was visited today by the state governor.
Meanwhile, governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, led a team of senior government officials, including the Deputy Governor, Architect Barnabas Yusuf Bala, to visit Francis who is receiving treatment at the St. Gerald’s Hospital. The governor comforted the victim and promised that the government will not allow any criminal to hide under any religious guise or to use religion as justification for violating the right of any citizen.....
The governor has directed the police to arrest the perpetrators of the attack, warning that there is no room for religious violence and criminality in the state.
