There was confusion in some parts of
Kakuri, in Kaduna South Local Government
Area, when a 41-year-old carpenter, Mr.
Francis Emmanuel Francis, almost lost his
right eye on Tuesday following an attack
on him by Muslim youths for not observing
the Ramadan fast.
This is coming barely a week after a 74-
year-old, Mrs Bridget Agbahime, was
murdered in Kano for allegedly
blaspheming Prophet Mohammed.
An eyewitness account had it that the
carpenter courted trouble for himself when
he was spotted by some Muslim boys in
the Sokoto Road area of Kakuri, at about
2.30pm, eating when others were supposed
to be observing the fast. This drew the ire
of the youth who started beating him.
Emmanuel, according to the eyewitness,
was given the beating of his life and
subsequently rushed to the St. Gerard
Catholic Hospital, where he is currently
receiving medical treatment.
He was inflicted with deep machete cuts
on his head and other parts of his body
during the incident.
Narrating his ordeal to journalists from his
hospital bed, Emmanuel said he was taking
his launch when the boys, numbering about
six, descended on him on the grounds that
he was not fasting.
He said, “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 was a
Muslim or a Christian. I did not answer
them. They asked me why I was not
fasting. I told them that I am not a Muslim.
“Before I know it, one of them slapped me.
As I stood up, the rest came and
surrounded me and started attacking me
with knives. I didn’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.
I became unconscious; I don’t even know
who brought me to the hospital.”
Source: punchng
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