- President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua returned home after 90 days treatment
- Police killed three protestors in Sagamu, Ogun
- Cultists killed five in Okpokwu, Benue
- At Least 27 Killed in Nigeria Blasts
- Gunmen attacked Kano mosque, killed five
According to Julian Barnes, history is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.
History is not a straight line graph. The happenings that shaped every history does not permit it to be straight. As much as every situation or incident matters and must be recorded, it denies history the rare privilege to be straight.
In an effort to increase awareness for educational and enlightenment purposes especially bringing notable events of the past to people’s doorsteps, WITHIN NIGERIA highlighted five major events that shaped 24th of February in the history of Nigeria.
President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua returned home after 90 days treatment
On this date, 24th of February in 2010, President Umaru Yar’Adua flew out of Jeddah night to return to the saddle in Nigeria.
The president’s long medical sojourn in Saudi Arabia ended early this morning when two planes landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja.
While the first plane, an air ambulance, landed at 1.47am, a second one, the presidential aircraft, landed at 1.54am.
As soon as the first plane landed, the small convoy of cars already waiting at the Presidential Lounge drove to the tarmac and came to a stop near it. There were about five cars, one of which was a Ford ambulance recently acquired by the State House.
Police killed three protestors in Sagamu, Ogun
On this date, 24th of February in 2020, no fewer than five persons were killed after residents of Sagamu in Ogun state took to the streets to protest the killing of Tiyamiyu Kazeem, a football player alleged to have been killed by the police on Saturday.
According to reports, two policemen are among the five people that were killed.
The protesters stormed the palace of Babatunde Ajayi, the paramount ruler of Remoland, demanding justice for the deceased.
Gbenga Daniel, a former governor of Ogun; Funmi Efuwape, member representing Remo federal constituency at the house of representatives, and Adewunmi Onanuga, commissioner of women affairs and social development, were among those who appealed to the protesters.
Cultists killed five in Okpokwu, Benue
On this date, 24th of February in 2020, five people were killed in Ugbokolo community of Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State following a cult clash between two rival groups, Red and Black.
It was gathered that the victims were members of two cult groups known as red and black confraternity in the area and that they were killed by their colleagues.
A source in the area, who spoke to our correspondent on phone on condition of anonymity, disclosed that the clash was between members of the red and black cult group.
At Least 27 Killed in Nigeria Blasts
On this date, 24th of February in 2015, suicide bombers targeted two crowded bus stations in northern Nigeria, killing at least 27 people in nearly daily violence in the embattled region.
The first explosion, in the northeastern Nigerian town of Potiskum, killed at least 17 people.
According to witnesses, dozens more were wounded in Tuesday morning’s blast, which occurred as a man was trying to get on a bus that was preparing to depart for Kano.
Gunmen attacked Kano mosque, killed five
On this date, 24th of February in 2012, suspected members of the Boko Haram sect gunned down five worshipers inside a mosque as evening prayers ended.
The gunmen suspected of being Boko Haram Islamists killed a dozen people when they razed a police station after failing to storm a jail in Gombe city in Kano.