Weeks after, Suleja bomb victims still in pain

As the storm generated by the twin blasts that rocked the venue of the PDP rally on the third day of March, 2011 appears to settle, some who were hit directly by the blast, will have to adapt to a new life.   For Malam Ibrahim Babangida, a 38-year-old supervisory counsellor under the PDP for […]

As the storm generated by the twin blasts that rocked the venue of the PDP rally on the third day of March, 2011 appears to settle, some who were hit directly by the blast, will have to adapt to a new life.

 

For Malam Ibrahim Babangida, a 38-year-old supervisory counsellor under the PDP for the Suleja local government area, he will have to be content with going about his normal life with an amputated leg and a shattered arm laden with shrapnel from the blast.

The family man, who is married to two wives, is the breadwinner of his immediate home and also catering for other members of his extended family when the tragic event happened. Recounting his experience on that fateful day, Malam Babangida said he was on his way to get a motorcycle to convey him home from the venue of the rally shortly after the national anthem marking the end of the occasion when he heard the deafening bang from the first blast, adding that he went numb instantly.

He said that when he opened his eyes after a while, all he could see was a huge mushroom of dust several metres high into the sky, adding that all around him, he could see disembowelled bodies and men writhing in pain and calling for help.

“I later discovered that my right leg was shattered completely and nothing was left of it. I was numb and life itself was almost leaving me. I have so far undergone two operations. The first surgery took place on March 4, a day after the blast. My damaged leg was amputated,” he narrated.

He also disclosed that medical personnel in the specialist hospital, who are working assiduously to ensure that those affected by the blast get the best of treatments, have on daily basis been draining water from parts of his body.

The embattled Babangida who has tubes all over his body is presently being fed through pipes as his system is yet unable to digest solids.

When asked how the health challenge will affect him as he has become a physically challenged person on account of the blast, he said life will continue as normal for him, saying that he will get a new limb and start afresh.

“As a person who believes in God, my amputated leg will not affect my life. I believe I can make it at anytime in life in the present condition I find myself. As for my political career, I think I still have the support and sympathy of the people,” he said.

Despite the optimism of the embattled Ibrahim, his wife, Sadiya, thinks otherwise as she expressed concern over the trauma the family has been going through since their breadwinner became incapacitated as a result of the blast.

She said friends and political associates of her husband have been generous to the family, yet life has not returned to normal as the family has started facing financial challenges.

“We are thankful to the Suleja local government for assisting us with some finance. So far, they have been the only government source that has given us cash for upkeep while the state government is helping out in the area of providing free medical assistance”, she said.

When asked how she is coping in the hospital especially since the family resides in Suleja, she explained that she normally sleeps on the floor whenever she is in Minna tending to her husband.

She intimated that life is becoming hard as she shuttles between Suleja and Minna as her health condition is beginning to wane and funds dwindling.

Ahamed T. Bello, a politician from Munya area of Niger State, who escaped amputation, lies awkwardly in the hospital with limbs fastened on tethers to his hospital bed.

“When I heard the blast, for good thirty minutes, I couldn’t see anything. All I did when I came around was to say my prayers after which I crawled to the road, which is about four metres away.

“It took the efforts of my sister and some good Samaritans who carried me from the road to a road safety ambulance that saved my life on that fateful day,” he said.

The forty-six-year-old politician said that his continuous stay in the hospital will continue to affect his source of livelihood, adding that he has to contend with health and financial factors while recuperating in the hospital.

Meanwhile a student of the Government Secondary School, venue of the ill-fated rally, still lies in a painful condition in the hospital, missing classes while his mates are apparently getting ready for examinations.

Nineteen-year-old Kasim Bala is a Senior Secondary 3 student of the school. He told this correspondent that he cheated death by a few inches when the bombs went off, adding that his friend, a carrot seller was not that lucky.

Kasim said that he is not happy that he has to miss classes but submitted to the will of Allah, adding that he is only grateful that he is alive to tell the story as he was with the carrot seller who was killed by the blast.

He called on the state government to redeem the pledge to sponsor education of persons involved in the blast, especially students of the secondary school.

Weekly Trust spoke to an official of the hospital about the whereabouts of other blast victims. The hospital official said that while some were discharged following improvement in their health condition, others left to seek traditional treatment. He stated that the specialist hospital is managing those presently at the hospital, adding that their condition is stable and they will be discharged immediately they are fit enough.