*We watched helplessly as the bomb exploded – Survivors

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By Henry Umoru, Abuja

From their hospital bed, one could feel their agony as they struggled to talk. They are victims of the bomb blast which rocked the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, campaign rally in Suleja, Niger State.

Their words:

Aliyu Adamu
I am a student in a community school. I was on my way home when I stopped over to see what was happening at the Government Secondary School compound; I just heard Gbaam and now found myself here, in hospital. I cannot really say what happened because, you can see me in pains – I am really in pains. I call on government to come to our rescue and look at the security situation of the country.

Dahiru Abdullahi
I do not know what happened.  I was just there when the bomb exploded. It happened around 3.30 p.m. The campaign had finished.  They had even finished singing the national anthem. I live in Suleja here and I am a student – at model school, SSS3 green. I want  the government to take the security of the nation more seriously and help stop all these explosions here and there.

It would be difficult for people to keep trooping to campaign rallies if they are not sure of their safety.

Isa
I am 21 years old. I was at the campaign ground, GSS, Suleja, when the bomb exploded. I was on my way home when I heard the explosion and immediately felt some pains in my body.

When I looked at my body, I saw blood. I want  the government to take care of us and solve the problems in the country. I pray that God will help us to recover.

The tragedy that left them in pains occurred on Thursday in  Suleja  when a bomb exploded  leaving 10 persons dead and about  28 severely injured. Apart from the  dead and the injured, it was gathered that a councillor and a student were feared dead. The  incident took place at the Government Secondary School, GSS, Katoma, Suleja, where the Niger State chapter of PDP held its political rally to sensitise the people on the need to vote for its candidates in next month’s elections.

The bomb reportedly went off about  2 p.m, while the state governor, Dr.  Muazu Babangida Aliyu, was driving out of the school compound. When Sunday Vanguard visited the scene of the incident, policemen were seenthere with their vehicles.

A victim being attended to by rescuers.

At the Suleja General Hospital, sympathisers were everywhere discussing the incident. Ward 2 male surgical and the operating theatre where the patients were kept was  filled to the brim, even as it took the intervention of the police and hospital workers to plead with the sympathisers to allow the victims to receive fresh air.

Speaking with Sunday Vanguard, the hospital’s  Head of Clinical Services, Dr. Okoye Chukwudi, who disclosed that the hospital received 28 injured persons, said, “About 2.30  this afternoon (Thursday), we received information that there was a bomb blast  at a campaign ground in Government Secondary, Suleja. Since then, we  have been receiving victims, most of them sustaining serious injuries and we started giving them first aid.’’

On the number of persons involved, he said, ‘’I cannot say precisely if all of them were brought here. But those we received are about 28 injured, three dead. We are taking care of the ones we can stabilise, some have been transferred to IBB Specialist Hospital, Minna.”

When asked if government officials were at the hospital, Chukwudi said, ‘’His Excellency, the governor of Niger State, Muazu Aliyu Babangida, was here. He came and saw the victims and promised he was going to take adequate care of them.’’

Also speaking at the Suleja Hospital, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health and Hospital Services, Niger State, Dr. Chindo Ibrahim, who described the incident as unfortunate, said that  the information available to him showed 28 injured. According to him, ‘’the state government is picking the medical bills of those brought into the hospital and those that have been transferred to Minna too.”

However, former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, had raised concerns about how bomb blasts are removing the shine off  campaigns.

He said on Thursday that cases of bomb explosions at campaign venues were gradually removing the beauty and attractions involved in the exercise, just as he demanded to know why Nigeria must indulge in politics of bomb blasts.

According to him, rather than campaign fields or venues becoming platforms where issues were presented to the electorate, they have suddenly turned to places that are dominated with fear, apprehension, suspicion, intimidation and threat to humanity.

In a statement  by his spokesperson, Prince Kassim Afegbua, Babangida said, ‘’the news of the twin bombs explosion in the Suleja area of Niger State has once again brought a sad commentary on the nation and its march towards entrenching democracy that is rooted in issue-based campaigns in a bid to provide representative government for the people. Bombs explosions are gradually removing the beauty and attraction of political campaigns from being a platform where issues are presented to the electorate to being one that is dominated with fear, apprehension, suspicion, intimidation and threat to humanity.”