Nyanya dead victim’s brother screams: ‘Nigeria!’

As Abuja residents reel in shock and trepidation, the families of the victims of the bomb blast moan in palpable agony.

Some of the relatives of the victims who spoke with TheCable poured out their raw emotional entrails.

At Asokoro District Hospital, Abuja, a trickle of families wailed uncontrollably.

Uche, 25, had been going round the hospitals where the victims of the blast were reported to be, in search of his brother, Henry Kelechi Nwogu, 32.

He had searched Maitama General Hospital twice, the National Hospital, the same time, and Wuse Hospital once.

He had also done a round walk at Asokoro District Hospital. All this time he had been searching the emergency units of the hospitals.

He did not believe that his brother could be dead.

However, after persuasion from friends who accompanied him, he checked the mortuary; there he found the picture of his brother on list of the dead.

He suppressed the swelling tears in his eyes, and muttered in disgust, “Nigeria!”

Wounded neighbour

Lasisi Wasilat, 45, was lamenting about the uptick in insecurity in the country.

A resident of Nyanya, she cried that she might be caught in the next Boko Haram attack going by the preference of Nyanya for vicious Boko Haram attacks.

She had come to attend to the needs of a neighbor who was wounded in the bomb blast.

Aliyu Danyaro, 48, had come to retrieve the corpse of his daughter, Ladi, 24, who died as result of the languid response of rescue workers.

According to her father, Ladi was returning home for holiday when the incident happened. She was a student in Bauchi.

Witnesses say she was still breathing after the blast, but died after help did not come in time.

Mrs Nnajionu, 50, was sobbing profusely when TheCable met her.

She had lost her younger brother, Kelechi. She was at the hospital to collect his remains.

However, the hospital had not started releasing corpses to families as of the time of this report.

Call for disintegration

According to a worker at the hospital, the government had not given the fiat for corpses to be released to families.

Adamu, 40, lost his brother in the blast.

He was raging uncontrollably, calling for a disintegration of Nigeria.

He lamented the refusal of the mortuary staff to release his brother’s corpse. Feeling defeated, he cried: “Let them eat the corpse”.

It is an agonising experience seeing people in pain.

But we cannot say we feel their pain for we are obviously not involved.