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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Following the explosion that rocked Bodija area of Ibadan on Tuesday night, survivors have been recounting their ordeal and soliciting for help from well meaning Nigerians.
One of the survivors is 18-year-old Malik Ganiyu, who is currently receiving treatment at Redeemer’s hospital, Bodija, Ibadan.
Speaking with Newspeakonline on Thursday, the mother of the teenager, Mrs Toyin Ganiyu, said she is yet to come to terms with what happened.
“I would be lying if I tell you I understand. I was at my shop when I heard a loud bang. I lost everything. I couldn’t bring out anything. It affected my residence,” she said.
Mrs Ganiyu said she and her family have nowhere to stay after they leave the hospital, adding that her residence at 8B, Aderinola Street, is now a rubble.
Another survivor at Redeemer’s hospital, Mrs Oluwakemi Akande, said she was in the kitchen washing her hand when she heard the sound of the explosion.
“The shattered window glass scattered over my body and face. Then, I fell down; everywhere became dark. My brother later came to carry me outside. That was how I got to the hospital
“Everything we have is gone. We want the government to assist us to rebuild the house and provide temporary accommodation for us,” Akande said.
The mother of another survivor who spoke at Redeemer’s hospital 2, behind Ibachi Chinese Restaurant, Mrs Oseni, said she was at home when the explosion occurred.
“I was at home that day. Around 7:45pm, we suddenly heard a loud sound and felt a vibration. We were staying downstairs in a duplex; everything scattered at once- the ceiling, windows and doors.
“The whole place was littered with broken glasses, ceiling and everywhere was dark. We couldn’t see ourselves at all, we were just shouting,” Mrs Oseni said.
She noted that they thought the world had come to an end, saying: “We thought rapture has come because everybody was crying and shouting at the same time when we came out of the gate.”
“Many people were injured. There was blood everywhere. Some people thought it was an earthquake; it was the following day we got to know that it was an explosion.
“My son was outside the gate when the explosion happened. We live at Dejo Oyelese Street, and from our street, the blast took him somewhere around BON Hotel. He called us because he had a phone in his pocket at the time. He was breathing profusely because he had inhale so much dust. He couldn’t talk anymore.
“We took him back home because we thought it was something we could treat ourselves. There was chaos everywhere and it took a lot of time before we could get out of the estate.
“When we brought him here, he was placed on oxygen because he couldn’t breathe well. It took almost an hour before he got better. The doctor later adviced that we move him to ICU,” she added.
Meanwhile Residents of Bodija Estate have expressed their displeasure over how the rescue operation at the site of the explosion is being handled by the operators.
The Chairman, Bodija Estate Residents Association (BERA), Pastor Muyiwa Bamgbose, stated this during a visit to some of the victims of the explosion at the hospital, on Thursday.
Bamgbose said residents are concerned about the handling of the situation, adding: “We feel there is need for more humane professionalism in this thing. We were told of an arm that was brought up by an excavator. Where is the body? Using operators who work on construction site is not what you expect on a rescue site. They should be more careful and more humane. We are talking about lives, not rubble.”
The BERA Chairman noted that as of Wednesday night, seven bodies have been recovered from the rubble. He said that there may be more casualties, adding that those injured in the incident are more than the 77 declared by the state government.
“The figure we heard was seven. But this morning, we were told that more bodies have been recovered. We don’t have anything to gain by adding or reducing the numbers. One thing is sure, there are a lot more casualties than being declared. Even the injured, we are not sure about the numbers because many people didn’t go for any treatment. So many people just dropped-by and move away. We have some hospitals within our area who are just treating people. I was told that Redeemer’s hospital was calling their doctors in other places for more hands. They were overwhelmed. With the numbers recorded in UCH, J-Rapha and Redeemer’s hospital, we can’t say 77 will overwhelm all these people. Definitely, we have not captured these things very well,” he said.
Bamgbose, who lamented the overzealousness of soldiers manning the explosion site, said residents are organising themselves and putting security in place to forestall future reoccurrence.
He noted that, although Bodija is a low density and mind your business area traditionally, residents have embarked on a ‘know-your-neighbour’ drive.
His words: “We want to know who is who. There was a meeting yesterday and we asked that they allow us to scrutinize ourselves. We go through the communities to find out who is where? What is he/she doing? We are not going to harass anybody. Most people here are responsible people who have held responsible positions.
“We’ve started the move in terms of security. We are engaging our own security operatives in Bodija. We appreciate the police, we have a very wonderful relationship with them. But there are people we also need to be abale to say ‘go there and check that or what did you see?'” he added.
He further explained that people, churches and organisations who are willing to assist the victims are already getting in touch with the association.
Bamgbose revealed that BERA has launched a GIS link to capture information on damages and casualties. He urged people to use the following links to report casualties and missing persons as well as to donate to the victims of the explosion.
To to report casualties and missing person: https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/1d319b20fc3d4bc3a176b28ae0a1619f
To donate to the victims of the explosion: https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/1e2ce798945443cd98b920234e228e97
Speaking, the Medical Director of Redeemer’s hospital, Dr Dare Olulana, said out of the 12 people that were admitted, six have been discharged while one was moved to UCH for proper care. He added that another victim was also moved to Redeemer’s hospital 2 because he had issues with his ankle.
Olulana said the remaining five are responding to treatment, adding that the state government has promised to pay the medical bills of the victims.
Among the survivors are 97-year-old woman, Mrs Josephine Isaac, and a nursing mother, Mrs Adebola Omikunle.