Kaduna
Kaduna Location in Nigeria
Coordinates: 10°31′23″N 7°26′25″E / 10.52306°N 7.44028°E / 10.52306; 7.44028
Country	Nigeria
State	Kaduna State
Government
• Governor	Patrick Yakowa
Area
• Total	1,190 sq mi (3,080 km2)
Population (2006 census)[1]
• Total	760,084
• Ethnicities	Gbagyi, Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo,
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+1)
Website	http://www.kadunastate.gov.ng/

Kaduna is the state capital of Kaduna State in north-central Nigeria. The city, located on the Kaduna River, is a trade center and a major transportation hub for the surrounding agricultural areas with its rail and road junction. The population of Kaduna is at 760,084 as of the 2006 Nigerian census. The symbol of Kaduna is the crocodile, called kada in the native Hausa language.

History[link]

Kaduna was founded by the British in 1913, and became the capital of Nigeria's former Northern Region in 1917.^[2] It retained this status until 1967.

Persons hailing from Kaduna include Emmanuel Babayaro, Celestine Babayaro and Victor Moses (Nigerian footballers) and Fiona Fullerton (British actress and former Bond girl)

The Nigerian Islamic umbrella association Jama’atu Nasril Islam is based in the city.^[3]

Religious strife[link]

Due to its religious makeup, Kaduna has been the scene of religious tensions between Muslims and Christians, particularly over the implementation of shari'a law in Kaduna State beginning in 2001. In February 2000, approximately 1,000 people were killed in a particular riot. The city remains segregated to this day, with Muslims living mainly in the north of the city and Christians in the south.^[4]

Another incident in 2002 stemmed from an article in a Lagos newspaper that offended Muslims over the upcoming Miss World pageant scheduled for that week in the capital city of Abuja, suggesting that if Muhammad watched the beauty pageant he would end up marrying one of its contestants. A massive riot ensued. Churches were among the most frequently attacked targets: More than 20 were burned by Muslims. In retaliation, Christians burned 8 Mosques. Several hotels were also burned. The city suffered widespread damage, and 11,000 people were left homeless. In particular, the local offices of the newspaper which had published the offending article were torched. As a result, thousands of civilians fled the city to escape. Civil unrest soon spread to the capital city, Abuja. After four days of rioting, Nigerian security forces quelled the riots and arrested hundreds of rioters. A Temporary curfew was imposed, although individual killings continued. 215 bodies were counted on the streets or in morgues, while some others were buried by their families. 1,000 people were also wounded. The funerals of many of the victims took place shortly after the riot ended. Muslim rioters were tried in Sharia courts, while Christian rioters were tried by Civilian jurisdictions. The editor of the Lagos newspaper that had provoked the riots was arrested, and Isioma Daniel, the reporter who wrote the article resigned and fled to Norway.^[5]

Kaduna was also the place where Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the suspect of the terrorist attempt of arson on Northwest flight 253 in December 2009, grew up and returned to while on vacation^[6].

Education[link]

Kaduna State is home to the Nigerian Defense Academy (1964) Kaduna, Kaduna Polytechnic (1968)Kaduna, Ahmadu Bello University (1962)Zaria, Kaduna State University (2007)Kaduna, Nigerian College of Aviation Technology,Zaria, Nigerian Institute for Trypanosomiasis Research (1951) and the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology.

Economy and transport[link]

Kaduna is an industrial center of Northern Nigeria, manufacturing products like textiles, machinery, steel, aluminum, petroleum products and bearings.

Pottery is highly prized from Kaduna, especially from the nok culture, which precedes Abuja and Minna. The main highway through the city is called Ahmadu Bello Way. Many of the place names come from past sultans, emirs and decorated Civil War heroes. Kaduna has a large market, recently rebuilt after an extensive fire in the mid-1990s.

There is a large racecourse, approximately one mile round, inside which the Ahmadu Yakubu Polo Club and Kaduna Crocodile Club are situated, whilst the Kaduna and Rugby Clubs are on the periphery. There are two airports, one of which is Kaduna Airport.

Chanchangi Airlines has its head office in Kaduna.^[7]

Railways[link]

In September, 2009, construction was approved for a railway branchline to the national capital of Abuja.^[8]

References[link]

Coordinates: 10°31′N 7°26′E / 10.517°N 7.433°E / 10.517; 7.433

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009)

Patrick Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, (1937–1967) was born in the Northern Region’s capital of Kaduna to Igbo immigrant parents from the Mid-Western Region-Okpanam Town, near Asaba in the present day Delta State.

Background[link]

Major Nzeogwu was an infantry and intelligence officer of the Nigerian Army. Such was his family’s affinity to the city of Nzeogwu’s birth that they and his military colleagues called him “Kaduna”. Nzeogwu was a devout Roman Catholic and a teetotaler. He attended the military academy at Sandhurst in England, and was a promising, charismatic and rebellious military officer who eventually became the Chief Instructor at the Nigerian Military Training College in Kaduna. The forerunner of the Nigerian Army Intelligence Corps (NAIC) was the Field Security Section (FSS) of the Royal Nigerian Army, which was established on 1 November 1962 with Captain PG Harrington (BR) as General Staff Officer Grade Two (GSO2 Int). The FSS was essentially a security organization whose functions included vetting of Nigerian Army (NA) personnel, document security and counter intelligence. Major Nzeogwu was the first Nigerian Officer to hold that appointment from November 1962 to 1964.

1966 Coup[link]

In the early hours of January 15, 1966, citing a laundry list of complaints against the political class, Nzeogwu led a group of majors mainly Igbos, but also including a Yoruba major (Ademoyega Adewale) in a military coup against the Nigerian First Republic. The Prime Minister, a federal minister, two regional premiers, along with top Army officers from the north and western regions of the nation were brutally murdered. The coup failed and he was arrested after arriving in Lagos on January 18, 1966 in the company of Lt. Col. Conrad Nwawo. The killing of Brigadier Ademulegun's pregnant wife by led to the suspicion among Yoruba and Hausa that the coupist were common criminals rather than Nationalistic patriots. Brigadier Ademulegun was a Yoruba officer. The premier of the Northern region was killed, The premier of the West was killed, but the premier of the Eastern region where most of the plotters were from was forgotten. On the Federal level the Prime Minister was killed, the Finance Minister the number 3 man was killed but the number 2 man who "coincidentally" happened to be from the same region as the plotters "escaped the killing".

The kid glove with which the new leader Ironsi handled the coupist led to the dissatisfaction of northern officers with Ironsi's reluctance to courts-martial the coup plotters led to the counter-coup of July 29, 1966 which was led mainly by a group of junior Hausa-Fulani officers. Initially detained at Kirikiri maximum security prison but then transferred to the East, Nzeogwu and other January 15 mutiny detainees in the East were released from jail by Lt. Col. Emeka Ojukwu at the end of the first quarter of 1967, following demonstrations by students of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Nigerian Civil war and death[link]

After Ojukwu's May 30, 1967 Biafra secession declaration, Nzeogwu was released from close observation, and finding himself bored, asked to go into battle, albeit without the appropriate level of support for an officer of his calibre and rank. On July 29, 1967, Nzeogwu - who had been promoted to the rank of Biafran Lt. Colonel - was trapped in an ambush near Nsukka while conducting a night reconnaissance operation against federal troops of the 21st battalion under Captain Mohammed Inua Wushishi. He was killed in action and his corpse was subsequently identified. In order to speed up the national reconciliation effort, orders were given by Major General Yakubu Gowon for him to be buried with full military honours at the military cemetery in Kaduna. However, by the time the corpse arrived in Kaduna, it had been mutilated by unknown persons and his eyes gouged out. A photograph of Nzeogwu's corpse is available at the National Archives in Kaduna.

See also[link]

• Nigerian First Republic