Nyanya blast survivors relieve horror, families demand security
Families who lost relatives in Thursday evening’s blast at Nyanya have pleaded for new strategies to end security threats that have cost them families, even as death toll rises. Samirah Atiku was among residents attempting to claim the body of relatives from among 12 corpses in the mortuary at Asokoro District Hospital, where the number […]
Families who lost relatives in Thursday evening’s blast at Nyanya have pleaded for new strategies to end security threats that have cost them families, even as death toll rises.
Samirah Atiku was among residents attempting to claim the body of relatives from among 12 corpses in the mortuary at Asokoro District Hospital, where the number of injured now stands at 34.
Her younger sister Ladi Mudugah, 24, died in the blast Thursday night. A student of Institute of Non-formal Education in Gombe, she had been on vacation in Abuja before her death.
“The government should do something about the security situation in the country,” she said, fighting to look at her sister’s body she remembered being shattered in the blast.
“This is something that used to happen in the northern states, now it has reached Abuja. We are no longer safe anywhere in Nigeria.”
Police at Asokoro station demanded a photograph to identify the deceased before the family could claim the body.
“We are waiting for the photograph to arrive from Gombe, our home state,” Atiku said.
Too much to handle
Chukwudi Okoye last saw his brother, Kenneth, among dead in the morgue.
“I don’t know how to tell his wife,” he said, full of regrets.
He regretted going home Thursday night, insisting that Kenneth might have been alive at least or sustained a few injuries at most, if only he had moved a few steps faster at Nyanya.
Among four injured taken to Maitama General Hospital, one was referred to the National Hospital with serious burns, confirmed the hospital’s secretary Angela Effiong.
In the hospital’s emergency unit, Hadiza remembered her friend’s final moment at Nyanya as they waited to catch a vehicle for Area One.
“The first vehicle we saw was already filled-up, my friend suggested that we move forward a little. Beside us was a white car with nobody inside and before I could get to my friend, the explosion went off and that was my last moment with her,” she said.
Hadiza fainted at the sight, pierced by shrapnel carried in the blast and woke up without her right leg.
“When I regained consciousness, I couldn’t stand up again, then I noticed that my right leg was no more.”
“Wounds all over”
Nyanya General Hospital, minutes from the blast site, took in 29 injured in the explosion.
Joseph Ogbeche, one survivor there, watched fellow injured die in hospital and others being moved to other hospitals.
He had been on his way to town with a friend when the blast knocked them unconscious to the ground for minutes.
“I was able to stand up, I saw that everybody was now running for their lives but I couldn’t run myself because I had wounds all over.”
“Bring back my son”
Meanwhile, Millinet Uzokwe, shouted for hours outside Asokoro Hospital Thursday night, demanding army officials to return her only son.
Her son, Emeka, was beaten and dragged away by soldiers outside the hospital where residents had congregated to help families in search of relatives.
“Where is my son, where is my son? Army, bring back my son. I don’t have another one,” she cried. “What did he do that they beat him. Please, government, go and bring my son. Nigerians, come and see what I am seeing.”