On Saturday morning, we went to Hussainiyya because there was going to be a flag-hoisting ceremony to celebrate Othe holy birth month of the Prophet (Muhammad SAWA).
The Ashura flag was scheduled to be replaced by that of the Maulud. We were the organizers of the programme. Not long after, we heard a siren. When we trooped out, we saw armed soldiers standing in front of Hussainiyya. Some men went to ask for the reason behind their deployment. They said they had come to pick up their lost beret. The answer was not convincing.
After retreating, they started shooting. We were ordered to get inside. Upon entering the building, we saw a number of dead
bodies being brought in while the soldiers, on the other hand, were evacuating some bodies after they had killed them. Shortly
afterwards they sent in another set of soldiers and their numbers increased considerably. They kept on shooting as they besiege the Hussainiyya. The shooting only subsided at the midnight. The soldiers then deployed a loudspeaker, asking every remaining occupant of Hussainiyya to come out otherwise they would use force to break in. They were watching us from afar. Some of us
were praying (at that time.) We turned the light off. They then used a powerful touch light which beamed the whole Hussainiyya. The fact that they were sure we were unarmed did not stop them from
launching a grenade attack on us. After they had bungled open the main gate and other entrances, they then came in with full force shooting at people observing prayers and those lying down injured.
Some were badly wounded while some were already killed. They shot them point blank.
In the early morning, they entered Hussainiyya poured petrol to it and set fire to every part of the building. They had no pity for the children who were crying. Many of them were just kids who normally attend Islamic lessons on Saturdays and Sundays in the complex. Many of them were traumatized, apart from the fact
that they were also very hungry. They were too terrified to sleep and the heavy gunfire could not allow them to do so that night.
They watched as their fellow kids were being killed in their presence. I evacuated some of the children to a nearby building in the Hussainiya where I hid them, but that did not stop the soldiers
from setting the building ablaze. They had no pity for the children whatsoever. One soldier was about to shoot us when another soldier asked him not to shoot. That's how we managed to escape
the fire.
On my part, I have my daughter killed by the soldiers. After escaping the fire, they waylaid us. They asked to remove our
hijabs, but I resisted saying it was our formal religious dress. That reply angered them so much that they beat the hell out of me. One soldier hit me on my back with an axe handle. Some chained us, dragging us on the ground and they threw us inside a military truck together with children and dead bodies and took us to barrack.
They tortured us when we reached their barrack. One female soldier slapped me five times; another kept hitting me until
I could see no more. They then threw us into a dirty unused swimming pool. We found some underage Almajiris who have
started dozing off inside before we came. The Almajiris said they were asleep when they were arrested. They were at least thirty in number.
Among us were many underage children many of whom were shot or beaten. I don't think a human being can ever mete out
to a man a fraction of what they had done us. They used abusive words to demonize us, saying we blocked their convoy. It all
happened in our presence, nobody blocked their convoy, and may
Allah avenge for us.
From the book " Zaria Massacre Survivors Acount"
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Zaria Massacre