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Two weeks after the barbaric murder of about 40 students at three Mubi colleges in Northern Nigeria, there are still more questions than answers. President Goodluck Jonathan's visit to relatives of the victims has failed to reveal any motive for the attacks.Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan speaks during an interview with Reuters in New York, September 26, 2012. Nigeria's "robust" approach to neutralizing a threat posed by Islamist sect Boko Haram using military force, holding indirect talks with the group and improving education in the north is paying off, the Nigerian president said. (Reuters/Eduardo Munoz)
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What has become clear, however, is that the perpetrators singled out many Christians by name. At least one Christian female present was spared, as were Muslims who could quote Islamic verse. Muslims, who could not recite verses from the Quran were also killed.
According to Mubi church leaders, a total of at least 30 people, mostly students, were killed and at least four injured in the main attack, with many others also killed close by.
Fully armed attackers invaded the Tudun Wada Wuro Patuje area at about 10 p.m. on Oct. 1, firing shots into the air. Nigerian military sources say they tried to repel them for at least an hour, but attackers still made their way to the off-campus hostels of the Federal Polytechnic State University, College of Health Technology and several private residencies of Christians.
Just before midnight, the attackers called students out of their rooms and asked them for their names. Those with Christian names were shot dead or killed with knives. The bodies were left in lines outside the buildings. Students with traditionally Muslim names were told to quote Islamic scripture. "If you succeeded, you were let go," a survivor told our reporter who rushed to Mubi Hospital.
"I was asked to say my name to which I replied that I am a Christian and that my name is Elkanah," said student Elkanah Sardauna. "They threw me to the ground, and shouted 'Allahu Akbar.' I cried out to Jesus, face to the ground. They demanded that I stop calling on Jesus, but I persisted. The next moment I was shot in the hand, and then slashed with a knife at the back of my neck. They must have thought I was dead because they left."
Sardauna told our reporter from his hospital bed, "It was only God who saved me when they came to our room. We were four sharing the room and all of us had Christian names. My three roommates were killed before my eyes. They got to me last."
Manasseh, a student who survived a gunshot and severe knife injuries, shared his ordeal:
"They asked me to recant my Christian faith to spare my life. I refused. After my Muslim roommate quoted some Islamic scripture, he was told to leave the room. They said they were only after these 'infidels' who would all die that day. Then they shot me and slashed my back. This is really a picture of the great hatred for us Christians in the region."
Source: Charisma News | OPEN DOORS NEWS
