Muslim youths on Tuesday attacked and seriously injured a Christian, Francis Emmanuel, for eating during the ongoing Muslim fasting.
Emmanuel, 41, a carpenter, was stabbed by some youths along Sokoto Road in Kakuri area of Kaduna South on Tuesday.
Francis, a witness said, had gone to buy food from a woman along the road in the afternoon after taking a break from his cabinet making work when four young men accosted him as he was eating and asked him why he was not fasting.
The witness who preferred anonymity said Francis was rescued by members of a vigilante group who pursued the boys into a bush in Kakuri but could not get them.
“Francis was left bleeding for a while before he was eventually rushed to St. Geralds Catholic Hospital, where he was immediately taken to the accident emergency ward,” the witness said.
according to Emmanuel, who spoke from a hospital bed, “It happened around 2:30pm. When I went to the market 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 why I was not fasting. I told them that I am not a Muslim. Before I knew it, one of them slapped me. As I stood up, all of the rest came and surrounded me and started attacking me with knives.”
Asked whether he could identify them, Emmanuel said, “I don’t know them.
Nobody could come to my aid because of the type of knives, cutlasses and other things the boys were carrying. I became unconscious, I don’t even know who brought me to the hospital.”
The Police public relations officer, DSP Zubairu Abubakar, said though nobody had lodged a formal report with the police, the police in the area got wind of the situation and moved in quickly to arrest those behind the alleged offence.
The Kaduna State Government yesterday condemned the attack.
The state 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 recuperating at the St. Gerald’s Hospital.
The governor comforted the victim and promised that the government would not allow any criminals to hide under any religious guise to violate the right of any citizen.
