nigeria1213_ForUpload

men divided the Muslim men and women and gathered the men into a group in front of a house in
Zonkwa. Some of the leaders of the armed men began discussing among themselves. Then five or
six of them, armed with AK-47s, opened fire on the group, he said. He ran and managed to escape.
“I recognized two of them that started shooting,” he added. 356
The Teacher Who Killed My Father
A 19-year-old student at Government Girls School in Zonkwa, who was among a group of Muslim
women who surrendered and was escorted by a Christian man to the police station, tried to save her
injured father from the mob by dressing him up as woman. She described what happened:
About six o’clock in the morning [on April 19], the Christians came to [the house where
we were hiding] and asked us to surrender. They said the women should go to one side
and the men should go to the other side. They told us that they will not kill women. It is
only men that they will kill. One of the Christian men [then] escorted the women to
[ward] the police station. He was carrying an old Muslim woman on his back.
As we were going to the police station, I saw my father. He was kneeling down in
front of a house. He was injured. We begged the Christian man that he should give
the old woman to my father to carry. He agreed and gave my father the old woman.
But my father was injured and couldn’t carry the old woman. I removed my wrapper
[cloth skirt] and my hijab and gave it to him, because they were not killing the
women. He put on the wrapper and hijab, and I carried the old woman on my back.
[But] when we were walking, some of the Christians saw my father’s trousers, and
they pulled him out of the group. My history teacher was among them. He had a long
knife. He was with two Igbo people. One of them had a gun, the other had a cutlass.
They started beating my father and he fell down. When I saw that, I dropped the old
woman and went to my father. I told my teacher, “This is my father,” but he didn’t
care. My teacher told me that I should go, but I refused. He gave me one slap. While I
was crying he continued to beat my father. He [then] took a long knife and cut his
throat. I was still standing in that place. He said, “I told you, you should go, but you
refused.” I said, “Yes,” He gave me another slap.
She eventually made it to the safety of the police station. 357 She later testified at the federal panel of
356 Human Rights Watch interview with a mechanic from Zonkwa, November 12, 2011.
357 Human Rights Watch interview with a student from Zonkwa, Kaduna, August 16, 2011.
99 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | DECEMBER 2013