Abuja bomb blast: One week after, victims tell stories of woe

Sunday Ogunsisi, a civil servant, is one of the victims of the New Year’s Eve bomb blast at the market in Mogadishu Barracks, Abuja, just when residents were preparing for the festive period. Once bursting with life and hope now he is forlorn and dispirited. He says on his hospital bed: “See me here, I […]

Sunday Ogunsisi, a civil servant, is one of the victims of the New Year’s Eve bomb blast at the market in Mogadishu Barracks, Abuja, just when residents were preparing for the festive period. Once bursting with life and hope now he is forlorn and dispirited.

He says on his hospital bed: “See me here, I am incapacitated, I can’t be there to provide fatherly care to my children. What is my offence walking around in my own country?”

It is the same question the scores of victims of the bomb explosions that have rocked Abuja in recent times are asking themselves. Once thought-of as Nigeria’s most peaceful and safest city the bombs have robbed residents of Abuja of that comforting thought leaving most people wondering where the next explosion is going to come from.

For the families of the victims, the bombs have dislocated family life, stopping children from resuming back to school because they have to stay back and take care of injured relatives while all the while praying fervently that the tragedy does not impede the progress of their schooling. It is a thought not far from the mind of Modupe, Ogunsisi’s daughter as she reflects on what toll the tragedy is going to wreak on her future. “I am not feeling too good and this is one of the reasons why I am still here,” she says. “I am supposed to be in school by now but seeing my father in this condition, how do I cope when I go back to school?

Everything has come to a stop now with our father in the hospital. Where do we turn from here? This incidence should not be overlooked like the first one that happened on Independence Day.”

Modupe is referring to the blast that took place at the Eagle Square in Abuja on October 1, 2010 the day of Nigeria’s Independence Day celebrations. After scores of people were killed and some others injured and the frenzie of speeches and activities by top government officials condemning the blast, the victims were quietly left abandoned to bear their losses.

Some are incapacitated for life. Now left with little comfort that the  perpetrators of the blast that has altered their lives perceptibly would ever be caught, the victims and their families say they have left vengeance to God.

But even at that there is a gradually spreading anger among the victims that they are helpless. Mrs Absalom Keziah, mother to Mrs Rachel Anyebe who lies in

bed writhing in pain, barely able to speak says: “I really don’t know why they did that. I simply cannot say what should be done to them if at all they are caught.”

Mrs Keziah reminisces about what would have been a wonderful New Year celebration as all the family has been planning well for the day. Now she says tragedy has replaced the joy of their seeing a new year.

She too worries that the fate of the victims of the Independence Day blast does not befall them too. She says: “My only fear is that we hope that they are not eventually abandoned like the October, 1 bomb blast victims who are still reeling in pains as a result of the neglect that they got from the government. I pray it does not turn out to be like theirs because if it does then we are doomed because where do we go from here?”

Families of the victims say though the government has been footing their medical bills no one has said anything to them about addressing their larger fears and concern should they be incapacitated for life.

Now, the anger in the streets that the government’s response to the blasts and the lackluster treatment the victims are given is because those mostly affected by the blast are not top shots who matter in the society but ordinary people is seeping into the halls of the hospitals were the victims are receiving treatment.

A victim who doesn’t want to be named says: “It is unfortunate because most of the victims are not highly placed people there is no mention of any compensation to us by our government. This realization makes me angry when I reflect that the perpetrators of this attack on us might never be arrested or prosecuted.”

Most of the victims make reference to the Independence Day blast to buttress the point that they are helpless.

Acting Chairman of Asokoro General Hospital, Abuja, Dr. Amos Adebayo, says the hospital’s management has been given the go-ahead to provide the necessary care to the victims of the bomb blast without demanding for money from them.

“The government through the Health and Human Services Secretariat of the FCTA has been taking care of all their bills, every need of the patients are been taken care of by the hospital. Let me also tell you that no life has been lost so far as all of them are recovering well.” He says out of the 14 victims brought to them, five persons have been discharged while nine are still receiving treatments.

Daniel Oluwapo, a relative of one of the victims says: “Many hope that government would be true with their words when they say that they will foot the bills of the victims. They claim that they would take care of the victims. We just hope that this time around they will be true to their words and not tell the hospital authorities to discharge them after two weeks. After all we are all aware of what happened to the first set of bomb blast victims in October. I understand that till now nothing tangible has been done for them as they have all been left to their fate.”

The Principal Information Officer, Management Information Services Department, National Hospital Abuja Mrs. Rabiah M.B. Labaran, told Weekly Trust that only five victims of the bomb blast were brought to the hospital. The victims, according to her include: Foluke Fatule, Victor Oloja, Rachael Anyebe, Florence Igbeta and Sunday Ogunsasi.

She explained that one of them, Florence Igbeta had been discharged, while Foluke Fatule was transferred to Asokoro General Hospital to join her husband who is also a victim of the tragic bomb blast.

Mrs. Labaran says some of the victims had fracture and severe wounds, adding that adequate machinery had been put in place to give them the best of treatment because as innocent victims, they deserved it. She described their response to treatment as encouraging.

She says: “Information reaching us indicates that the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed has promised to do something about the victims. The Director General, National Emergency Management Agency was here to commiserate with the victims and only this morning, he came to pick up the medical bills of the victims.”

The manhunt still continues Police Force Public Relations Officer DCP Olusola Amore said investigation into the blast was ongoing and the possible clues that will guide investigators are being examined. He said police have not arrested anyone in connection to the blast. Forensic scientists including foreigners have been mandated to examine all evidence at the crime scene tofind the perpetrators.

The PRO said the investigators led by a deputy commissioner of police have sought for the support of the United States. But the problems confronting the investigators of the blast which would have otherwise guided them to fish out the attackers are numerous. There was no database that contains the biometric details of people which could be used to compare evidence found at the scene. Also, Close-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras which would have recorded moments of the blast and those behind it haven’t been installed around the scene.

All efforts to trace those behind the explosion were handicapped.

The Police and the Ministry of Police Affairs have after the blast resolved to make the CCTV cameras more effective and increase their number.

Minister of Police Affairs Humphrey Abah said during a visit to the FCT CCTV monitors that number of the cameras will be increased and their computer monitors will be kept in separate place. The telephone tracking system being installed by the police in Abuja will soon be completed. It will enable the police to locate the position of mobile phones used by criminals.

The Minister of Defence Adetokumbo Kayode also said government had sought support from experts from different places to find the perpetrators of previous explosions and make recommendations on how to turn away future ones. He said

agencies will be established by the government that will anticipate future attacks and prevent them.

The market where the explosion occurred has been closed and a number of people doing business there especially those selling perishables have lost their commodities. Ana Ogenede who was recently discharged from defence hospital in Mogadishu barracks alongside her 2 daughters, Monica and Erieta after sustaining injuries from the blast asked for financial assistance from the government.

She sells fish at the market prior to the explosion. “I have no money to start business again,” she lamented, even as Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant GeneralAzubuike Ihejirika said people will be allowed to conduct businesses at the market after investigation.