By Taye Obateru

Friendship, it is said, is like a bond which binds people together. For Messrs David Dung Tiri, a community leader and Sunday Davou Pam, two long standing friends of Rayfield area of Jos, doing things in common has become part of their lives. They had been bosom friends for decades. But last Sunday’s blast at St. Finbarr’s Catholic Church in Jos where they worship created an uncanny kind of bond or experience, turning them into widowers.

By the time the fire and dust created by the blast which claimed several lives settled, the wives of the two friends were among the dead, their bodies burnt beyond recognition. While one of them recognized his wife by the ring on her hand, the other recognized his by her weave-on which was not completely burnt.

Ironically, one, in the true spirit of friendship, was helping to identify the body of his friend’s wife when he discovered that his wife was also affected. The duo recounted their sad experience to Saturday Vanguard:
David Dung

“I am a community leader in Rayfield and I worship at the Saint Finbarr’s Catholic Church Jos. On that fateful Sunday morning, as usual, we prepared for the service as we usually attend the Hausa mass. We left the house with my wife and within minutes we were in the church because  it is not far from the house. I had planned to rush home immediately after the service because we were to attend the burial of one of my wife’s relations.

“We would have left the church together as we usually do, but I had to wait because there was an announcement that members of the Men’s Fellowship of which I am a member should wait behind after the service. So I planned to catch up with her after the meeting, but I did not know that she will end up being the one I would bury that day.

“After the Men’s Fellowship meeting I was about using the second gate home, then I heard a loud bomb blast. My friends immediately lay down on the ground and after the situation came back to normalcy, we went to assess the situation and assist where possible. We were all dazed and in a state of confusion and were afraid to pass through the gate where the explosion took place.

“But as we were thinking of what to do, I saw people coming out from the other side, so we followed suit. It was then that I regained my memory and I began to look for my wife. When I did not see her, I left for home which is just behind the church to see if she was there.

David Dung and Sunday Pam

“But on reaching home, I did not find her, so I immediately went back to the church premises. But I was still unable to locate her and I became worried. From there we came back home to see if she was not home, but she was still nowhere to be found. We were about going to hospital to continue with our search when someone noticed her shoes by the road where the blast occurred. We saw dead bodies on the ground as we continued with our search.

“It was difficult to identify the bodies because they were burnt beyond recognition. My wife’s body was among the ones we saw but I could not identify her because the corpse was covered by ashes. As we were searching, someone called my attention to two bodies. So I now drew closer to see whether she was amongst the two.

“It was then that I noticed her hair weave-on.That was how I recognized that the body was my wife’s. I was devastated. As I moved closer, I noticed that she was still breathing even with the burns all over her. So I attempted to lift her up and see if there was still anything that could be done. But it was then she stopped breathing.

“I miss my wife greatly. Sincerely speaking in this world I have never seen a woman like my wife because she is a woman of virtue. She was respectful, kind and obedient to my instructions. It is now that I know the importance of my wife. I am not sure I feel this much love for her  even when she was alive. I never showed her this kind of love that I’m feeling.

” I wish to meet with my wife again in heaven where, I believe, she is sitting in the presence of the Father. God has destined people to die at given times. If two are working together one day the Lord will separate them.  That is what I’m experiencing today. Our separation came so hard to me and I’m really feeling the impact of her departure. I wonder how I will cope now that she has left to be with the Lord.

May God forgive those people who did this thing to her. Vengeance is the Lord’s so if God will take vengeance for what has happened, so be it because he knows those behind this wicked act. My wife left me with seven children, four girls and three boys. My prayer is that God will give me the grace to train them. She was a pillar of support, my helper, but the evil ones have snatched her from me. She was buried on that same Sunday around 5.30pm.”

Sunday Davou Pam
“I also lost his wife in the bomb blast. We left  home for for the 8.30am mass with my wife after which we had the Men’s Fellowship meeting. We had just finished the meeting when we heard a bomb explosion. We immediately lay flat on the ground and thank God the effect of the blast did not get to where we lay.

“So we got up and came to the scene. We saw smoke everywhere in the sky. Fire was burning and it caught everything nearby. I was looking for my wife because I was trying to call her, but the line was not going through. I then rushed home, but she was not home.

“I returned to join my friend David whose wife had been identified among the dead. I went to see the corpse of David’s wife which was side by side with that of another yet to be identified victim. But as I uncovered one of the bodies, what I noticed was my wife’s ring on her left finger.

“This was what I used to identify her because the ndu was badly burnt. That was how I discovered that I had also lost my wife in the bomb blast. Although some of the dead bodies were taken to hospital. I took my wife’s body home and buried her. That was the least I could do to honour her.

“It was as if my wife had a premonition of what would happen. All the time she always expressed worry about the bombing incidents always praying that it should not come near us because she believed the day it happens, she is going to meet with her God. Now, see what has happened. I believe she is already with the Lord, because she was a committed Christian woman. She was the women’s leader in the parish and she lived in the knowledge of serving God faithfully.

“Sincerely speaking her death still remains like a dream or a child’s play. It is now that I am beginning to see that it is real. I keep recalling her fears concerning bomb blasts and all she used to say to me. As I said, I believe that my wife is sitting in the right hand of  God. All through her life, the word of God remained her daily guide. It is not only me that this unfortunate thing has happened to.

“We are many and we are feeling the pain. When I start thinking about it immediately the word of God consoles me.  Before she died my wife was 50 years old and we were married for 32 years, with  five children. In fact I will always live, missing a good partner that she was.”