Emir of Kano weeps as Jonathan visits

President Goodluck Jonathan signs Condolence Register at the Palace of the Emir of Kano Alhaji Ado Bayero (Right) during his visit to Kano State.

The pomp of royalty was set aside, yesterday, as the revered Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero broke down in tears as he recounted the loss of human lives that followed last Friday’s Boko Haram attack on the ancient city before a visiting President Goodluck Jonathan.
Right in front of his subjects while receiving President Goodluck Jonathan, the octogenarian monarch could not hold back his tears, while reflecting on the level of carnage and the hundreds of innocent souls who had been killed from bomb blasts by the Boko Haram sect.
See photos of some of the victims of the Kano blasts here
The president’s visit was to commiserate with the Emir over last Friday’s bomb blast in the ancient city that reportedly left about 162 dead and several others injured.

It took the monarch almost half an hour to read through a two-page prepared speech in Hausa as he broke down intermittently shedding tears and on each occasion, palace guards had to form a ring around him before wiping off his tears.
In his speech, Alhaji Bayero told the visiting President that the emirate deeply appreciated his visit and complained that Kano, a city of over 9 million people, is under-policed and appealed to the president to beef up security in the city.
Alhaji Ado Bayero told the visiting president that the emirate will support current effort by the federal Government to combat terrorism in all its ramifications, adding that Kano ‘deeply appreciate the courtesy of Mr. President.”
Bayero told the President the need to increase the number of police and other security agents in the state, noting that the current arrangement where 8,000 policemen serve the state of over nine million people calls for urgent review.
“It is a far cry that a city of kano’s size and status is being policed by 8,000 men, and we appeal to the authority concerned to have a rethink on the current situation in the overall peace and stability of the state”, Bayero  stressed.
The monarch described the Friday attack  as ‘unfortunate, ugly and violent” and tasked people to fear Allah in what ever they do, adding that Kano emirate will intensify prayers for Almighty to intervene in the security challenges.
To underscore the security situation of the period, tanks were deployed around the palace with armed soldiers.
Thousands of residents also lined the streets to welcome the President as crowd of onlookers waved in appreciation of the visit.
This was President Jonathan’s first official visit to the Northern part of the country since the increased activities of the Boko Haram insurgency.
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