Easter Sunday bomb blast: We lost 100 members – Okada riders

The commercial motorcycle riders  under the aegis of the Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycle Owners and Riders Association said yesterday  that over 100 of its members died in last Sunday’s car bomb explosion in Kaduna which claimed 36 lives.

Kaduna State Police however disputed the casualty figure of 36 given by the State Emergency Management  Agency (SEMA), saying, “it is a lie!”. The police said 11 were killed while 16 sustained grievous injuries.

the two wounded persons taken to St. Gerald Hospital, Kakuri, one had his wrist amputated and had to  undergo surgery to remove some objects lodged in his body.

At the 44 Army referral Hospital, Kaduna  military medics did not allow Vanguard  access to the 19 injured victims being treated for various degrees of injuries. It was however gathered that three of the victims had been treated and discharged yesterday.

At the Rakiya Memorial Hospital, on Ibadan Road, the Director of the Hospital, Dr Mohammed Bello told Vanguard that nine injured persons were brought to the Hospital on Sunday. According to him, of the nine, two sustained very serious injuries that needed urgent attention in a  bigger hospital, and were rushed to the 44 Army Referral Hospital.

He said he had treated and discharged four, and still had three under treatment.

One of them, Mallam Bala, 35, a Businessman, and father of a daughter spoke to Vanguard at the hospital, recalling his experience.

He said: “I was on my way home after purchasing some rolls of film for my camera. I was driving a Honda CRV jeep. My daughter had just completed her Q’uran recitation class and we were going to celebrate it. I had taken a turn from the Ahmadu Bello Stadium roundabout and was heading back home around 9:30am.  I saw a Honda car flashing its hazard light and coming in the opposite direction on the other side of the lane. It was speeding. It was an ash coloured car. I noticed all this under a few seconds. Then at the junction of Sarduana crescent, as we approached each other from the different sides of the road, I suddenly saw the car blast into pieces followed by a loud explosion. The car behind him, was thrown into the air.  Almost the same time my jeep was lifted into the air. Yes! My car was taken high into the air.

“Within that short period, I don’t know if it was in the air that I came out, or it was after it landed that I came out. But, my car did not fall upside down. I have the pictures.

“I was outside the car, my shirt was on fire but, my arm was affected more, as you can see. I think it was the fuel from the exploded car. When I gathered myself, I saw human beings lying dead.  There were human parts all over the place. People were screaming and just running. Fire started in some areas. I was in pains. My handset, Driver’s License and wallet containing N180,000 were scattered on the ground. I had no strength to go for them. I saw someone take the wallet and just walk away. I could do nothing about it. The scene was too sorrowful to bother about those things. Right now, I am concerned about my health.

“The man that brought me here took my phone away, after he gave it to me to place a call to my wife. He and some people rescued me. But I still thanked him for helping me here. May Allah reward him. I thank God that I am responding to treatment. Not many like me got so lucky.

“I want to tell the people that are carrying out this cruelty to understand that they cannot be killing innocent people and think they are fighting for God. If they have an issue with the government, they should find ways of resolving it, and  not take human lives. Since God created us as human beings, we have by no choice of ours become one human family. We must treat each other as such. It does not matter what you believe in. But, as a Muslim, I want to say that Allah has no place for such people in his Paradise.”