By Nazifi Dawud Khalid
Pandemonium almost broke out yesterday at Umar Bin Khattab Jumuat Mosque in Kano city when a lizard fell from the roof of the female section of the worship centre while the Eid-el-fitr prayers were being observed. Our reporter, who was among the congregation, heard shrill screams emanating from the women wing of the mosque, a development that caused confusion among thousands of worshippers that attended the ritual. It was observed that some of the worshippers almost abandoned the prayers when they noticed a stream of women and girls rushing towards the gates of the mosque complex following the screams while security agents stood at alert and took positions. One of the worshippers, Abdurrahman Nura, told Daily Trust on Saturday that the loud screams almost made his heart pop out of his mouth because he thought “something ugly” was going to happen.
“You know the situation we are experiencing in this country. Everyone is afraid; that was why, when I heard women screaming and saw some of them coming out, I thought we were under attack. But we are grateful to Allah that nothing happened,” Nura said. Another worshipper, Sani Auwal, said that at the time the incident happened, he just saw his neighbour trying to rush for his shoes, but for the intervention of a mosque guard who tried to calm him down. But a girl who was at the women’s wing when the incident occurred said the screams and panic were caused by a lizard which fell from the roof and made its way into the female congregation. Umar Bin Khattab mosque was recently targeted by a female suicide bomber who detonated her explosives near the popular Dangi roundabout on Zaria Road, a stone-throw from the mosque. The bomber killed herself and a boy who was walking nearby.
http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/weekly/index.php/new-news/21162-lizard-causes-panic-in-kano-mosque
