Lucky survivors’ of the deadly bomb
blast that occurred yesterday in Abuja have spoken!
Vanguard newspaper had this interview below with them:
Survivor A:
I was on the queue to enter a bus
One of the victims admitted at the Wuse General Hospital who gave his
name as Cosmas Ugwuanyi from Enugu State told Vanguard that he was on
queue to enter the El-Rufai bus when the blast occurred. Though, Mr.
Ugwuanyi’s case was not so critical, the blast affected his eardrum and
he was having difficulties hearing what people were saying.
Survivor B:
The blast removed my shirt, scattered my car, killed my four friends
A survivor of the blast who escaped unscathed, said his survival without
a scratch was because of providence.The victim, who was still in shock
as at the time he was responding to questions said he was grateful to
God for being gracious to him.
Narrating what he witnessed, the victim who wouldn’t mention his name said:
“I went to Nyanya to pick my friends.
I was under the Nyanya Bridge to pick them, one person sat with me in
the front, while the other three people sat at the back. I had to enter
the Park to pick them because the Task Force would not allow people to
pick passengers under the Bridge.We all saw the commotion that was
happening as a car drove into the park and the people were complaining
about the driver. The last person entering my car shut the door and I
tried to move the car and everything went blank. The explosion threw me
far away and scattered my car while all the four people with me in the
car died.I really can’t say what happened, I just saw myself here, they kept me on a wheel chair, but I got up to call my people.”
An eye witness, Michael Chuks said:
“Our vehicle just left the park and we have not even left that junction
close to the park when we heard loud noise, some people said it was a
burst tyre but we knew that the noise was more than burst tyre so we
parked and the next we saw were plenty of dead bodies on ground.
“The blast affected more than four el-Rufai buses already loaded with
passengers. There were more than 500 people. Very soon now the
government will tell us that two or three people died.”
Narrating his ordeal, a survivor, James Igwe said a driver drove into
the park and parked in front of the already loaded high capacity buses
and disappeared before the explosion.
According to
him:
“A vehicle came in and parked and the driver disappeared from the
vehicle, there were many people inside all those long buses you are
seeing now, this bomb exploded and everybody
was running, some people were seriously injured and we were calling for
help but nobody came, because some people were still unconscious and
they were on the ground.
How I cheated death —Chinenye
A food vendor who identified herself as Chinenye Emeka, was grateful to
God for sparing her life as the explosion occurred immediately she
stepped outside her shop and walked across the road to buy polythene
bags with which
to sell her snacks.
She, however, regretted that many other food vendors at the park died in the explosion.
Her account:
“The vehicle just drove in at a point where two “El-Rufai” buses which
were full of passengers were about moving while many passengers were on
queue struggling to board other vehicles.
“I saw a red-coloured space wagon going inside the park as I was trying
to cross the road back to where I kept my bread and other things which I
sell but while waiting to make sure there was no traffic on the road
before I crossed over, I heard a loud sound. I fell down but by the time
I got up, there was thick smoke all over the place. I tried running but
I couldn’t and when the smoke could clear a bit, I saw many people
lying down dead while many vehicles were already on fire”.
Jeremiah Ofem, a civil servant had bruises but survived. Displaying his bruised body to Vanguard, Ofem insisted:
“Those who planted the vehicle may have driven it to the place earlier
and left. I believe they detonated the bomb through the use of a remote
control as no one was inside the vehicle.”
How a local bitters saved my life
Though he was aware that
driving under the influence of alcohol was a crime that could earn him either imprisonment or a fine if caught by
law enforcement
agents, Timothy Eze Okorie was grateful for yesterday’s decision to buy
a bottle of Alomo, a local alcoholic bitters popular with artisans and
commercial vehicle drivers across the country before beginning his job
as a commercial bus driver.
Mr. Okorie who was visibly shaken said he could not explain why he took
the decision to buy the bitters rather than go back to Masaka to bring
back passengers to the bus terminus when the bomb blast took place.
According to him,
‘I Left my House at about six in the morning to bring passengers from
Masaka, Mararaba, One Man Village and Ado to the Nyanya bus Terminus
where they will board El-Rufai bus to the city centre. I dropped the
last passenger under the Nyanya Bridge and was supposed to enter the
park to carry passengers back to Masaka. Strangely, I had this sudden
and strong feeling to drink before beginning the day’s job. So rather
than enter the park, I took the next turn, went round the bridge and
headed towards Jukwoyi to buy a bottle of Alomo”.
That decision turned out to be his saving grace as less than three
minutes after he left the bus park, a huge explosion occurred.
What will I tell our parents, cries Francis Alozie
“My sister, Miriam Edozie Chinyere, left this early around 6.30 in the
morning to catch up with their staff bus which normally waits for them
at Nyanya Bridge.
Unfortunately, when I heard about this bomb issue I tried calling her
but her number was not going through, all the two numbers were switched
off. And it is not as if the battery was down because I was the one
that charged the battery of the two phones for her. She is my cousin, we
live together at Kurudu, she works at the Airport.
I went to Nyanya Hospital first and they said that only one female
patient was kept there. They said they had the list where all female
patients were compiled.
I tried to see the names and I did not see anywhere they listed names
and here too I did not see any names I am just confused. I don’t know
what to do. If our parents start calling now, what will I tell them?
I passed out — Abdullahi
One of the victims, who identified himself as Yaro Inusa Abdulahi, an
Okada rider from Kano State, said, the blast occurred when he was trying
to cross the road to see somebody when he heard a blast.
Abdulahi, who lives at national headquarters lodge, Karu, said:
“I heard a big blast and fainted, when I opened my eyes, I saw wounds
all over my hands, legs and head. About five El-Rufai buses were loading
at the scene of the incident.”
Another victim who spoke to our reporter, Daniel Job, who lives in Mararaba said:
“I came with my brother to board a bus to town, and because there was no motor from Mararaba to town, I decided to enter a bike
from Maraba to Nyanya, so that we could board a bus to town. After
buying the ticket at Nyanya motor park, I discovered that the first bus
had got filled up and we were asked to enter the second one, on our way
to enter the next bus, that was when I heard the bomb explosion.
After the explosion, I discovered that I just had a little injury and
started looking for my brother and sister, who were already inside the
bus I missed.”
I came out of the car through the window- Busayo
Another victim, Mr. Adeoye Busayo, 40 year-old security consultant at a
private security firm in Abuja, said he left his house around 6.00 am
with “my Nissan sunny car with some people I wanted to give a lift.
“When we got to Nyanya around 6:30 am, there was a little traffic
between Skakoma and the check point. I was about 30 to 40 meters to
Nyanya park; all of a sudden, I heard a terrible blast, and there was
dust everywhere, people were running helter skelter. Everybody was
panicking, though the sound was very terrifying, after the first blast,
all my windscreen and side glasses were already shattered because of the
vibration.
“Then I heard another blast. This time, I just heard a terrible noise at
the roof of my car; I managed to escape through the window because the
door could not open. I over-heard the people in my car shouting help,
help and blood was gushing out of their bodies.
“At this point, the weather became dark because there was durst
everywhere. We started running and I saw a lady fail down from my car
after struggling to get out of the car through the back glass and fire
from the car at my back caught her.
“Everybody behind me all left their cars and ran away, instead of
people running for safety, because you could neither see your back nor
your front, they ran to where the fire was raging because it was only
that direction of the fire that was a little bit illuminated, that was
what deceived a lot of people.”
Abdul Isiaka, a welder at Golden Club company in Nyanya, said:
“We had been at the garage since 6 am and when we could not enter the
first bus, we decided to enter the second bus, in the process of
entering, all of a sudden, I saw smoke under the El-Rufai bus and we
started running, after running to a distance, the bomb exploded, and
trying to cross to the other side of the road, another one exploded,
that was how I got injured.
“It did not take too long before the rescue team came, in fact I went to
them because I was crying for help,” said the 23 year old Mararaba
resident.
I just found my self on the ground- Sake
Another victim, Anquer Sake, 40, a public servant in Asokoro, who lives in Orozo area said:
“I got to Nyanya park, got my ticket and queued, I just found myself on
the ground, I did not know how I was brought here at Asokoro hospital. I
just did my x-ray, waiting for the result because I got an injury on my
head.
The worst hit
The worst hit were inter-state commuters going to the Northern states of
Benue, Bauchi, Nassarawa, Gombe, Tarraba, as well as, workers leaving
the park to the city centre.Others were: Petty traders, food vendors,
Okada riders, tea brewers popularly called Mai-Shai and vehicles
conveying passengers to various locations within and outside the FCT.
Mr Romanus Ugwu, an Abuja-based journalist, resident at Nyanya, said that he ran to the scene on hearing the blast.
Ugwu said what he saw could be best described as a “gory sight” because
many people were burning in some cars and were calling for help that
never came to them while some were on the ground, helpless without
limbs.
“You have to be hard hearted to look at these things. I saw a woman
lying face down without limbs while one, who was surrounded by her
children, struggled for life and gave up in their arms.
“These attackers appear to be more proactive than our rescue
organisations and security agencies because so many lives would have
been saved if help had come in time.’’
Ugwu said he counted many bodies littered on the ground in the park, but could not say if all of them were dead.
Mr Femi Lawal, a survivor of the blast who could not contain his joy
and gratitude to God for sparing him, said he had dropped from one of
the green buses from One-man Village and was heading to the park when
the blast went off.
Lawal said he fell and was dazed momentarily before realising what had happened.
He said that he heard a loud bang, which nearly blinded him, and saw a thick smoke while people ran in confusion.
The 32-year old man, who was apparently wounded on the wrist and neck, said “it is a day I will live to remember”.
A survivor, Prince Igwe, however, said a vehicle was driven into the
park and parked in front of the already loaded high capacity buses.
“The driver hurriedly parked and disappeared shortly after the explosion
went off. I was inside one of the buses; I struggled to come out.
Dude just out of nowhere tweeted this. In his mind, he wants to clear
the air. That he and Beverly are never going to be. Trust Nigerians to
reply him tho. He wants to be on Nigerian blogs again. Lol.
