BY CHUKS EHIRIM
The dream of elder Henry Okomah and his wife, to join in the joy of celebrating the wedding of their son in Abuja last Saturday, was cut short by the evil intention of terrorist elements who struck, for the second time within the same Nyanya area of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja in less than three weeks.
Okomah who hails from Etung Local Government Area of Cross River State, is currently among the 66 casualties (according to official record) of the latest Nyanya bomb blast. Both him and his wife are sharing the same casualty ward at the Asokoro District Hospital. His injuries appeared to be more severe, having affected his two legs.
Narrating his ordeal to The Niche, Okomah who is a retired Director of the National Youths Service Corps[NYSC], said he and his wife were on their way to the son’s place, to attend his wedding scheduled to hold tomorrow, May 3, 2014, in Abuja, when they almost walked into death. The couple had attended what he described as a successful traditional wedding of the same son, which held on April 26, at Gboko, in Benue State.
“We decided to come to Abuja on Thursday so as to put finishing touches to the wedding, on Friday.We had successfully disembarked from the bus, heading towards Apo when I heard the blast. My two legs were shattered and all the gift items we brought for our son’s wedding were left there at the scene of the bomb blast,” he narrated from his sick bed, with both legs heavily bandaged.
He added that when the blast happened, he found himself lying on the ground for almost an hour before some good Nigerians came and picked and his wife in a charted taxi which brought them to the hospital. As he was speaking to this reporter, his wife was lying ion the bed next to him, with a young lady who attended to her wig, part of which was burnt by fire from the blast.
But even in his pains, Okomah was full of praise to God for saving his life and that of his wife. He praised the efforts of the hospital staff whom he said had been taking very good care of the victims of the bomb blasts.
In the same ward were two other men, one of them, an artisan, Ademola Abejide who is from Ondo State. He had closed from the day’s work and was at the Nyanya bus stop to get a ride to his home when tragedy stuck. He was actually in the company of his brother, waiting for a cab when they noticed a car, which he didn’t care to know its make, moving backwards. “The car almost hit my brother and I as it was moving backwards. When we noticed it, we moved to the front of the car where we waited for a taxi. While waiting, we heard the loud sound of the blast,” he said. He sustained slight injury on his right leg. His brother was luckier as his own wound was not much.
As at Friday evening, official figure of the victims of the bomb blast, was put at 66. Out of this, 19 were confirmed dead. The victims were scattered in various hospitals in Abuja. This was disclosed by the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency[NEMA], Mohammed Sedi, who spoke to journalists at the Asokoro District Hospital, where he was conducted round the wards by the hospital’s Chief Medical Director[CMD],Abubakar Amadu.
The NEMA boss was full of praises for the hospital staff and management whom he said had done everything possible to stabilize the victims. “We are as a follow up, to monitor the situation of victims of yesterday’s bomb blast, who are currently receiving treatment in this hospital. We are happy to note that they are making a lot of progress, most of them have been stabilized, like you can see. The doctors and the management of this hospital are doing everything possible to ensure that they stabilize most of them and by the time we went round the wards, we found that most of them have been stabilized and that they are doing well”, he said.
