The Catholic Pontiff, Pope Francis  yesterday in Istanbul, the Turkish capital, stood for two minutes of silent prayer facing east in one of Turkey’s most important mosques, a powerful vision of Christian-Muslim understanding at a time when neighboring countries are experiencing violent Islamic assault on Christians and religious minorities.
His head bowed, eyes closed and hands clasped in front of him, Francis prayed alongside the Grand Mufti of Istanbul, RahmiYaran, in the 17th-century Sultan Ahmet mosque, shifting gears to religious concerns on the second day of his three-day visit to Turkey.
Governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State has appealed to the insurgents to embrace dialogue and present their grievances to stop the killings of innocent people in the country.
The governor made the plea on Saturday when he visited the Kano Central Mosque where hundreds of Muslims were attacked by insurgents during the Friday prayer. He was accompanied by the heads of security agencies in the state.
Gov. Kwankwaso who described the attack as very sad considering the fact that innocent Muslims faithfuls were killed while observing Friday’s prayer, assured that the state government will continue to do its best towards protecting lives and property of the people.
While lamenting that 100 people lost their lives while at least 135 sustained different degrees of injuries, the governor said the attack was barbaric.
The governor while commiserating with the families of those who lost their loves ones, assured that government would shoulder the hospital bills of those injured. He stated that emergency units of all federal, state and private hospitals were directed to accommodate victims of the attack.
Governor Kwankwaso, who along with his entourage, visited victims admitted at Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital, Kano city, appealed to citizens in the state to be cautious of suspicious movements and alert security agencies of any attempt to breach the peace.
Meanwhile, the governor has also visited internally displaced persons from Mubi town, Adamawa state, who are residing in at a camp in Dawakin Kudu local government area, where he promised that government would give them adequate attention in order to feel homely.
In a symbolic act of defiance, the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi, cut short his lesser hajj trip to Saudi Arabia and returned to Kano on Friday to lead the Maghrib evening prayers on Saturday at the bombed mosque.
The emir, who had on Friday visited the scene of the bomb blast and the hospitals where victims were being treated, ordered an immediate clean-up and rehabilitation of the affected areas of the mosque.
Sanusi, who was in the company of the members of his emirate council, shunned all attempts to make them speak to the press. He had in an earlier statement said Nigerian Muslims will not be intimidated into abandoning Islam following the coordinated bomb and gun attacks on the Kano central mosque that left at least 130 people dead.
“We will never be intimidated into abandoning our religion, which is the intention of the attackers,” the emir was quoted to have said during a 20-minute-visit to the mosque, which adjoins his palace.  This was shortly after his return to the country.
Statements by officials of both the Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital and Muhammadu Abdullahi Wase Hospital mortuary in Kano indicated that over 130 people died in Friday’s Kano Central Mosque bomb blast.
An official, who spoke on condition of anonymity said: “I was asked to count those deposited [in the morgue] and I counted over 102 bodies before I was asked to stop, as the figures kept rising on Friday after the blast.”