Death Toll In New Zealand Shooting Hits 53, Nigerians Mock FG Over Concern

Accounts emerged on Sunday of heroic attempts to tackle a gunman who slaughtered 50 people at two mosques in New Zealand, as authorities prepared to begin releasing the bodies of victims to their families for burial. The death toll, meanwhile, has risen to 53.

Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder on Saturday. Tarrant was remanded without a plea and is due back in court on April 5 where police said he was likely to face more charges.

Friday’s attack in the city of Christchurch, which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern labeled terrorism, was the worst ever peacetime mass killing in New Zealand.

Ardern also said she wanted to talk to Facebook, as footage of the attack on one of the mosques was broadcast live on Facebook, and a “manifesto” denouncing immigrants as “invaders” was posted online via links to related social media accounts minutes before the violence began.

Amid the shock, outrage and recriminations that have consumed New Zealand over the past two days, tales of heroism and self-sacrifice emerged.

Abdul Aziz, 48, was hailed for confronting the shooter at the second mosque and preventing more deaths.

Aziz, originally from Afghanistan, ran outside after the shooting started and picked up a shotgun that the gunman had dropped. The gun had no shells in it, he said.

“I chased him,” Aziz said. “He sat in his car and with the shotgun in my hands, I threw it through his window like an arrow. He just swore at me and took off.”

Another man, Naeem Rashid from Pakistan, was seen on the gunman’s video confronting the shooter before he was killed, the BBC reported. Rashid’s 21-year-old son, Talha, was also killed.

Meanwhile, after the Federal Government had continuously commiserated with New Zealand over the death of over fifty persons, Nigerians have continually mocked the national government for showing more concern on the deaths in New Zealand over the continued killings in Southern Kaduna.

The Federal Government, through information from presidential aides, commiserated with the government and people of New Zealand over the deaths and prayed God to grant the families of the victims the fortitude to bear the loss.

Many Nigerians, meanwhile, took to twitter to handle to ask Federal Government to remove the log in its eyes before looking at a speck in the eyes of its neighbor.

@Mr_Oscar tweeted: “they have come again; Nigeria is boiling in southern kaduna and we are here mourning with others. We should remove the huge log in our eyes before we see properly to remove the speck in New Zealand.”

Also tweeting, @Musa Idris wrote: “Big fool; Nigerias are dying in their numbers particularly in Kaduna and we are here commiserating with New Zealand. Are we not big fool?