‘Francis, a peaceful man, dies violently’

By Marie-Therese Nanlong.

The fragile peace in Jos, the Plateau State capital was on Tuesday shattered when two suicide bombers detonated bombs in two separate vehicles at the central business district of Jos known by residents as Terminus.

The police said the space where the bombs were detonated was 100meters apart  while the primary and secondary blasts occurred within a 20 minutes’ interval.

EXPLOSION—Firefighters and rescuers extinguish a fire at the scene of the bomb blast at Terminus Market in the central city of Jos. Photo: AFP.

Many banks, shops and other businesses operate along that axis of the town and residents prefer shopping there as traders have abandoned the burnt Jos Main Market in the neighbourhood as well as the newly built Satellite Market at Rukuba road, Jos where they claim low patronage.

The traders set makeshift shops while others engage in street trading in the area where the blasts occurred and these account  for the high casualty rate.
About 100 might have lost their lives and over 120 others critically injured. The injured are receiving treatment  in hospitals across Jos.

A  report  on the bombings casualty released on Wednesday by the state Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mrs. Olivia Dazyem, said, “Plateau State Specialist Hospital has 35 injured, 44 deaths; Bingham University Teaching Hospital has 30 injured, six deaths; Our Lady of Apostle Hospital has 10 injured and no death; Jos University Teaching Hospital has 45 injured, 25 deaths; FOMWAN Clinic has five injured and no death while Yellow Clinic has  one injured and the person later died.

Security agencies cordoned off the two sites of the explosions.
When Sunday Vanguard visited the  site on Friday, people were still combing different hospitals in search of missing relatives.

Most residents remained indoors except those who went to secure their shops or verify the whereabouts of their missing loved ones. The Red Cross, National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA and its state counterpart as well as other stakeholders were seen on duty.

Banks rendered  skeletal services, shops along major streets in the city remained locked while school children stayed indoors as their schools were also closed.

Sunday Vanguard’s visit to the temporary site of the Jos University Teaching Hospital, JUTH, Bingham University Teaching Hospital and the Plateau State Specialist  Hospital revealed a high number of victims as many charred bodies including those of children were seen in the mortuaries.

Officials approached declined comments but a medical personnel at  JUTH, who pleaded not to be quoted, said “many corpses were brought to the hospital on Tuesday and the injured persons were taken to the permanent site of the hospital for medication”.

An official at the Plateau State Specialist Hospital said 15 of the injured victims brought were in need of blood.
He called for people  to donate blood as the hospital needed a lot more to treat the victims as about “35 people are  still on admission” in the hospital.

Most of the corpses seen on the floor of the hospital’s mortuary were women and children, including some pregnant women.

The situation was not different at the Bingham University Teaching Hospital where relatives  trooped to, to  identify the corpses or check those on admission.
People of different tribes and religion were seen at the hospitals evacuating the corpses of their relatives for burial.

Peaceful man, violent death
Most of the victims’ families who came to evacuate the corpses  were distressed to speak but some told their stories.

According to a native of Orlu, Imo State who said his name was not “important”, he and  his people were in the morgue of the Plateau State Specialist Hospital to evacuate “the corpse of Francis, a peaceful man who did not deserve a violent death”.

He said, “Francis was a Keke NAPEP (tricycle) driver, a father of three who died and left an old mother in the village.

“I am not related  to him by blood but we are from the same village, lived in the same area here in Jos and worshipped  in the same church. We met on Monday evening and, as usual, we were together discussing how business went on the day.

“On the fateful Tuesday, these evil people came. Francis  passed by my shop at Railway Line and waved as if he knew he was saying  final goodbye”.
He described the deceased victim  as “an easy going man who went out in search of daily bread but was killed by these evil people”.

Another person, who gave his name as Chilobi Amadi and is also the Chairman, Railway Line Traders’ Association, who was physically shaken, said he was still going round to check the whereabouts of his people.

He said, “I am the owner of Do Good Curtain World. Tuesday was terrible. I  was in the shop with my wife and children. At about to 3pm, I was expecting my pastor  who was to come and pray for me because is  business in not moving well.

Before he came, I went to my friend’s shop to see him. Then the pastor  came; immediately we ended the prayer inside my shop and I said  amen, we heard an  explosion.

“People started running, fire was raging and before we knew what was happening, the second one exploded. I just gathered my family and we found our way out”.
Amadi thanked God for the survival of his household but was distressed as many members of his association were affected.

“We are still searching for missing family members of some of our members. Two of our members’ wives were pregnant; some, their attendants are still missing, we are searching for them.

The case of the pregnant wives is particularly distressing. We have been to many hospitals where victims of the blasts are receiving treatment and the mergres without seeing them. We only pray they are not dead. If they are dead with their unborn children, it will be so sad. Even then, dead or alive, we are desperate to find them”, the traders association boss stated.

At  JUTH, one Abdulahi Musa said he came to the hospital to recover the body of his friend,  identified as Aminu Mailemu.
He said the victim was selling orange in the market and was last seen pushing his wheel barrow in the area where the incidents took place.

Bereaved cleric
A  cleric, Godwin Ejeh, of Kingdom Dominion Chapel, Dadin Kowa, lost his 18-year-old daughter, Shekina, who was sent to the market to buy groceries and was caught up in the blasts.

Another survivor, who gave her name as Regina, said she came  to buy things in the market and had almost finished her business when the bombinbgs occurred.
She lost all she bought, ended up with a broken arm but is thankful that she is alive to tell the story.

The President of Igbo Community Association, Chief Jonah Ezekwueme, in company of his people,  was seen trying to identify Igbo victims of the blasts.
Ezekwueme said that they   identified eight Igbo among the dead victims and nine   injured at the Bingham University Teaching Hospital and Our Lady of Apostles Hospital.

“We are on our way to other hospitals to carry out further identification,” he added.
Security agencies and other stakeholders said they were  investigating the blasts.