Death Toll, Survivors' Recounts, Loses and Gratitude>>>>Abuja Monday Blast!

ABUJA—'Mummy, mummy, don't let me
die', the agonising cry of a 15-year-old boy,
whose legs were shattered and holding on to
his mother trailed the deafening bomb
explosion reverberating through the Federal
Capital City. A woman was lying face down without limbs while another who was
surrounded by her children, struggled for life
before giving up in their arms. Several other
corpses littered the ground in the midst of the
injured, following the massive bomb blast
that rocked the crowded Nyanya Bus Terminus, at 6.45 am yesterday. No less than
88 residents of the densely populated slum
located at the suburb of the Federal Capital
City were killed while over 200 sustained
various degrees of injuries. Some of the dead were burnt beyond
recognition, while others were blown into
pieces as only their severed parts were
packed into bags by rescue workers. Over 40
vehicles were also destroyed. The incident happened when the bus station
which serves as a major terminus for
commuters coming from satellite towns
disembark before joining the high capacity
luxury buses to the city centre. Condemnations immediately greeted the
gruesome incident just as survivours of the
blast and eyewitnesses have been recounting
their experiences. Although Police Spokesman, Mr. Frank Mba,
put the death toll at 71 and 124 injured, eye
witnesses and hospital sources said that the
dead were far more than the official figure. An eyewitness who simply
identified himself
as Romanus said pieces of human flesh were
flung to different parts of the motor park and
beyond. When Vanguard visited the scene of the blast,
there were pools of fresh human blood which
emitted a very strong smell. The explosion
caused extensive damage at the park. Charred remains of at least seven cars, as
well as six buses were seen at the scene of
the incident as a joint team of different
security forces battled to evacuate the dead
and injured. How the bomb was planted According to eye witnesses, a man drove a
red Volkswagen space bus into the premises
of the big capacity bus terminus popularly
called El Rufai Buses and parked in front of
two of the buses which were loaded with
passengers and almost moving to the city centre. Vanguard gathered
that upon protest from
drivers of the buses that he was obstructing
their exit, the driver who allegedly came
with four other passengers reportedly said
he was going to get some lower
denominations of money to settle his 'passengers'. It was learnt that
just about five minutes
after the driver and the passengers left the
Volkswagen bus, it exploded, killing
everyone near it. The blast which left a large crater at the spot
where the bus was parked also resulted in a
huge fire which engulfed cars, the loaded and
empty buses and all structures in the area. At the scene of the blast,
a pack of local
delicacy, popularly called Okpa, whose
owner was reportedly ripped into two was
still intact, unaffected by the blast.
Piles of bags of intending passengers were
scattered as far as over 30 metres. In the midst of concerted rescue
efforts, mobile
phones of some of the passengers who
either died or sustained injuries from the
blast were still heard ringing. Vehicular damages 16 large SURE-P
buses, popularly called El-
Rufai buses and 24 others were either burnt
or destroyed from the effect of the blast. The National Security
Adviser, Col. Sambo
Dasuki (Rtd);the Chief of Defence Staff, Air
Chief Marshal Alex Badeh and all the service
chiefs visited the scene of the incident. Hospitals overwhelmed, call for blood
Hospitals across the capital city have sent out
passionate appeals for voluntary blood
donation from members of the public. They
said that their blood banks were exhausted
and that a large number of the injured had lost much blood and
required transfusion. The managements of the Asokoro Hospital
and the National Hospital cried out that they
had run out of blood and needed blood
urgently to avoid losing those who suffered
much blood loss in the incident. Relatives recount losses A relative
of one of the dead victims, Sadiat,
who could not hold back tears, told Vanguard
that his nephew was to travel to Taraba and
left home about to 5 am in spite of the fact
that they live not far away from the park
just for him to catch the first bus since Taraba is far. "Only for me
to hear deafening sound
of a blast and rushed to the scene. It took
quite some time before I could locate my
nephew's charred body and identified him
with his cloth. I could only identify the boy
with torn cloth he wore", she said as she wept sorely. At the Asokoro
General Hospital, relatives of
the victims gathered in different corners,
waiting to identify their relatives, who were
probably involved in the bomb blast. Miss Adigun Bidemi who was looking for her
brother, Mr. Gbenga Oladele an architect said
"my mother called me to tell me of the blast
and that my brother used to join the high
capacity buses to work. My mother and my
brother left home together this morning but parted ways at the park
shortly before the
explosion and we have not been able to
contact the young man who headed for the
high capacity bus. My mum called me and
said that there was a bomb blast at Nyanya,
so we went there but we could not find him, we had gone to the
National Hospital but we
did not see him, so that is why we are here
to check on him, but they did not allow us in
to check" Lucky survivors' accounts 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. The blast removed my
shirt, scattered my
car, killed my four friends- survivor
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." As he turned round, some of
his relatives
arrived the hospital, jubilated with him, but
the medical personnel took him in for further
medical investigations. 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". A survivor of the blast 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." Epuele was hit from a distance
One of the injured at the Nyanya General
Hospital, Michael Epuele, who said he was a
long distance driver at a near-by motor park,
wondered how he was hit. He said he was hit
even when he was many metres away from the point of explosion. Epuele
claimed that when he and others were
being evacuated from the scene, he saw a big
hole created following the blast. "I believe
the blast was buried in the ground, maybe in
the night, else, how come there was a very
big hole at the scene," he questioned. 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. Narrating his experience to Vanguard at the
scene of the incidence, 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 occured. 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. Inside the hospitals The effect of the explosion on the dead was
so gruesome that at the Asokoro and Wuse
general hospitals, as the bodies were seen
mangled, charred and sickly to even look at. At the Maitama General
Hospital, where
scores were rushed to, the Chief Medical
Director, Dr. Adetoun Sotimehin confirmed to
reporters that 14 dead bodies including
women, men and youths were in the
mortuary, two persons were on danger list (critical condition) while
27 others who
sustained injuries were receiving treatment. At Asokoro General
Hospital, the Chief
Medical Director, Ahmadu Abubakar
confirmed that 27 dead bodies were brought
to the hospital with 25 others receiving
treatment for various degrees of injuries.
Staff of the hospital were later heard announcing that they needed blood donors
from among the crowd of people that
gathered round to enable them administer
them on some patients. At the National Hospital Abuja, 30 bodies
were confirmed to have been taken to the
mortuary while 40 of those injured were
receiving treatment for injuries sustained. At the Wuse General
Hospital, the Chief
Medical Director, Dr. Obiora Chibundu was
uncooperative, telling reporters to go to the
office of the GM Hospital Management Board
for casualty figures. Vanguard, however went to the mortuary
and counted 16 corpses of the elderly, men,
women and young boys whose extremely
burnt bodies were being covered with
cellophane bags by officials of the hospital,
assisted by the police, NEMA and Civil Defence personnel. A list of
another 51 persons containing those
injured was made available to relations to
check for their loved ones. On the list, 40
were classified as injured but recognizable
while 11 were classified as injured but
unrecognized. At the Nyanya General Hospital, It was
confirmed that over 100 persons with
various degrees of injuries were rushed
there for treatment while the dead were
referred to other hospitals because the
Nyanya hospital cannot boast of a functional mortuary presently. At
the Asokoro, Wuse and Maitama general
hospitals, Vanguard observed that there was
serious apprehension as scores of people
who came to check if their relations were
there could not get clear information of what
to do. Meanwhile, the Police authorities have
released what they said is the official list of
casualties, saying that 71 persons were
confirmed dead while 124 were injured.
16 luxury buses belonging to the FCT, 24
other privately owned vehicles were damaged with three of the luxury buses
burnt to ashes. 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. Prseident Jonathan, Senate President david
Mark and other at the scene of the blast at
Nyanya , Abuja, Monday. Photo: Olamikan
Olugbenga. Mr Abdulrazak Haruna of the Chemical,
Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN)
Response Unit of NSCDC, told NAN that he
counted more than 100 bodies, including the
injured while evacuating victims. "It is a
sad experience. We counted 20 BRT buses, 14 cars, 24 commuter buses and 13
motorcycles.'' 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.
"Many people died," he said. Security agencies on red alert in FCT—
Mba Abuja, Security agencies have been placed on
red alert throughout the Federal Capital
Territory following the explosion that
occurred in Nyanya bus stop on Monday
morning. CSP Frank Mba, Police Force spokesman, told
newsmen in Abuja at the scene of the incident
that the blast occurred at about 6.55 a.m. "The FCT police are already
on red alert;
security in and around Abuja is being
strengthened; we are paying very close
attention to all vulnerable points. "We are also paying close attention to
motor parks. We advise the public to avoid
unnecessary huge crowd. We are also paying
close attention to government buildings. "We want to appeal for calm,
cooperation
and patience," he said, describing the
incident as sad.
Mba confirmed that 16 high capacity buses,
some cars and motorcycles were affected in
the explosion. He said investigation had begun. "Experts from the Bomb
Disposal Squad are
on ground, the police are working with other
security agencies.
"At this stage, we may not be able to give
the casualty figure; the reasons are obvious;
a lot of people are in the hospital; our detectives are visiting
hospitals and taking
count. "We want to give you figures that we can
back up with facts," he said. Remain calm — IGP Meanwhile, the
Inspector-General of Police,
Mohammed Abubakar, has urged the citizens
and the international community to remain
calm and vigilant saying the Police and other
security agencies were stepping up
measures to uncover the authors of the crime and avoid a reoccurrence of this
unfortunate incident. Speaking during his visit to the scene of the
explosion where he assessed the extent of
damage and the impact on the surrounding
environment, the IG noted that security
agents have relentlessly worked round the
clock with significant success to stave off such attacks on the
Federal Capital and the entire
country at large. He therefore reassured Nigerians and
foreign nationals that security agencies will
do anything possible to further strengthen
the security within and beyond Federal
Capital Territory (FCT). As a result, the IG directed all Police
operatives to be on red alert. He has equally
ordered the Police to intensify surveillance
on all vulnerable targets within Abuja. A statement signed by CSP
Frank Mba said:
"Meanwhile, the Police, supported by other
law enforcement agencies, have commenced
a full-scale investigation into the incident with
the deployment of the Police Anti-Bomb Squad
and other detectives to the scene with the view to solving the crime.
"Regrettably, seventy-one (71) persons
have been confirmed dead while one hundred
and twenty-four (124) persons sustained
various degrees of injuries" he said. "While commiserating with the families of
the victims of the blasts, the IGP called on the
members of the public to go about their
normal businesses without fear and to
cooperate with the Police by providing useful
information in order to ensure that the perpetrators of this dastardly act are
brought to book" the statement said.