BY WOLE MOSADONI

SULEJA, NIGER – “WE were together at the spot of the bomb blast in the church premises on Sunday. It was few hours after the close of the church service. The time was around 3 p.m when the bomb exploded, shortly after leaving my wife and few others at the spot and just less than three minutes before I came back. It was the mangled body of my wife I met on the ground in her pool of blood. I rushed her, carried her but she was stone dead.”

These were the words of the husband of one of the casualties of the bomb blast that occurred in Suleja, Mr. Christopher Ogbogu, while narrating his experience of the incident that eventually killed his wife.

The 61-year-old father of five said he left with his wife, along with their children, for their house after the church service around 12.30pm on Sunday, only to come back for a meeting at the church premises again later in the afternoon.

The man, who is a building contractor, said he was standing with his wife at the spot of the blast but left to open the door of the children’s hall for the scheduled meeting.

As he was trying to open the door, it refused to open and he had to abandon the front door to try another entrance. Just as he succeeded in opening the door, there was a loud bang outside and he rushed to the scene to ascertain what was happening, only to see his wife lying down on the floor with two others in their pool of blood.

Part of the damaged All Christians Fellowship Mission after an explosion rocked the church at Suleja, Niger State.

Pointing to blood stains on the floor of the church compound and to the already blood soaked head tie which his late wife put on at the time of the incident, Ogbogu said “I could not believe what I saw on the ground, it was unbelievable that the mangled body on the floor was that of my wife. This is somebody I left hale and hearty just less than five minutes ago only to see her lying flat on the ground bleeding and I had to summon up courage and went close, picked her  up  but  discovered that she was already dead.”

In an emotional laden voice, the deceased’s husband said they came back for the usual meeting of “Mission Support Team (MST) which is a meeting of like-minds from Suleja and other branches from Abuja and neighbouring villages, aimed at penetrating the rural areas for evangelism.

He said the organisation supports villagers in the area with clothes, foodstuff and finance as part of its humanitarian gesture but added that “the meeting which my wife had passion for could not eventually hold as a result of the ugly incident.

“Instead of holding the scheduled meeting for evangelism, it was an unscheduled meeting we held over the evacuation of her mangled body for the mortuary and how to bury her,” the husband lamented.

Christopher Ogbogu, who hails from Okpanam in Oshimili local government area of Delta State said he had been residing in Suleja town since December 1978. He said he was preoccupied with the plan to convey the corpse of the wife who is a teacher back home for burial. He appealed to the state government to come to the aid of his family and other victims, describing the development as a great loss to his family.

Acting governor of Niger State, Alhaji Ahmed Musa Ibeto, who led top government officials to the spot of the incident, yesterday, described the blast as a very sad event which called for a national condemnation.

He said when the state government was trying to integrate residents in the state, irrespective of ethnic and religious affiliations, it was very sad that there were still some enemies of progress   desperate to tear the country apart and cause disaffection among the people in parts of the country.

Ibeto, who was accompanied to the scene by Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Daniel Shashere, speaker of House of Assembly, Alhaji Tsowa Gamunu, Senator Dairu Awaisu Kuta and member House of Representatives, Engr Mouktar, Acting State Commissioner of Police and top government officials, described security as everybody’s business and, therefore, called on Nigerians, especially people of the state, to be more security conscious.

He directed the Chairman of Suleja local government to evacuate the heap of dump site at the back of the church, which the pastor of the church had earlier described as a security threat to the church.

The acting governor also directed that the access roads in the area be looked into and adequate steps taken to block areas  suspected to be security threat to the church.

*Ogbogu

Resident Pastor of the church, Rev. Joseph Olusaugba, while welcoming the acting governor and members of his delegation to the church, told them of the security threat the dump site was to the church. The dump site, which is almost as high as the church building, is suspected to be the entry point through which the perpetrators gained access to drop the bomb in the church premises.

The pastor, who was with other church elders, gave a graphic description of how the bomb exploded and affected various buildings within the church premises.  He called on government to assist the church and also  ensure that the perpetrators were brought to book.

The acting governor and members of his entourage later paid a condolence visit to the Emir of Suleja, Mallam Muhammadu Awwal Ibrahim, in his palace. He said he was in Suleja for an on-the-spot assessment and also to commiserate with members of church and people of the town.

Ibeto assured that government would,  in conjunction with security agencies in the state, fish out the perpetrators and called on the people, especially the people of Suleja town, not to be intimidated but go about their businesses without any fear, adding that the police was on top of the situation.

The Sunday explosion brings to three, the series of bomb explosions in Suleja town within five months, dating back to the PDP zonal rally in March. Another explosion occurred on the eve of the National Assembly Elections and the latest being that of last Sunday – all of which have led to loss of many lives, leaving several others sustaining various degrees of injuries.