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Kano is the biggest city in mainly Muslim northern Nigeria and it's been the scene this week of deadly attacks by Islamist militants. Nearly 200 people have been killed. Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation and the bombings have traumatized civilians, especially those from the country's largely Christian south.
As NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton from Kano, they feel under threat from the rebels they are fleeing the city in droves.
OFEIBEA QUIST-ARCTON, BYLINE: It's bedlam at New Road bus station here in the heart of Kano. Scores of children, women, and men are milling around with huge bundles and baggage in all shapes and sizes, waiting to be loaded onto half a dozen buses. Others are already on board. They're heading south out of town and they're in a hurry, desperate to leave the city and northern Nigeria.
Thirty-two-year-old businesswoman and mother of four boys, Kemi Ezioha, says she's scared.
KEMI EZIOHA: In the bomb blasts, they normally kill both Christians and Muslims. We can't go to church. We can't pray. We can't do anything. All we do is, you know, we are not safe. We are not safe.
QUIST-ARCTON: Others, like Glory Ndudi, standing nearby, nod vigorously in agreement. She's wearing a red T-shirt and a deep frown etched on her forehead. Her five children have already taken their seats on a bus.
GLORY NDUDI: No, we don't want to stay. We want to go. We want to go. We are tired. Can't you see the way I'm feeling? I'm shaking here. I don't want to stay. I'm going. I don't want to die here so I'm going...
QUIST-ARCTON: Both Ezioha and Ndudi are Christians, originally from southern Nigeria. They're part of the Igbo business community that has lived in Kano for generations, alongside the mainly Muslim majority in northern Nigeria's metropolis. But now, they're too frightened to remain here because of the threat from the radical Islamist Boko Haram sect. Deadly multiple bombings last week have shaken residents in Kano, and shaken many people's faith in being able to continue living side-by-side with assailants they feel want them dead.
Sweating in the heat of the bus, Glory Ndudi's 13-year-old daughter, Clara, has this message for Boko Haram.
CLARA NDUDI: (Through translator) We want them to just stop it and lead a good life, like other people. They should look around. They are taking lives - old women and little children. They're taking people's lives and want them to stop.
QUIST-ARCTON: Boko Haram initially targeted government and security institutions, in what appeared to be a battle against the state. But in recent weeks, the militants have also bombed churches and are warning Christians to leave the north.
Governor Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso gathered community, religious and traditional leaders together this week to discuss the way forward for Kano. Leonard Nwosu heads the umbrella association for the city's Igbo community. He says that while the government has promised to step up protection for civilians, that isn't enough for many people.
LEONARD NWOSU: Well, it's really sad. But what do we do? Life is more sacred, life is more precious. Life is first. If they wish to stay, the government has assured us of security. When they feel the security has finally been restored in Kano state, they might come back.
QUIST-ARCTON: Observers warn that the problem in the north is not between Christians and Muslims, but about Nigerians, some of them Boko Haram members who feel let down by the authorities and excluded from jobs, opportunities and education. So they use violence to try to polarize Africa's most populous nation and capture the president's attention.
These explanations, though, do not convince Kemi Ezioha.
EZIOHA: No. No, I don't really think I'll come back to Kano. This damn place, I'm sick and tired of this place. I don't think I'm going back. I'm leaving Kano for good. Too bad, but I don't have a choice. I don't have a choice.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: We are going. We are going. We are going. We are going...
QUIST-ARCTON: That's troubling for many people here.
Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News, Kano.