Joseph Ogbeche might fit into the mould of the cat with nine lives. Twice in 17 days, terrorists bombed the same spot in Nyanya, a Federal Capital Territory suburb, and twice Ogbeche escaped death and is alive and well to tell the story.
His was the case of the thunder striking at the same spot twice. He has witnessed them at close range and he escaped them too.
Yesterday, Ogbeche narrated his peculiar story on his hospital bed while still recuperating at the Nyanya General Hospital.
He was taken to the hospital as one of the injured victims after the blast again rocked the spot.
He recalled that while he escaped the first Nyanya bomb blast by the whiskers, the second almost got him and his girlfriend but for divine intervention.
But who would not jump out of his skin after such deadly encounters? So, Ogbeche sounds done with the city and has vowed to return to his native town, a rural area where safety is better assured until insecurity improves.
A peculiar tale
I was heading for the city with my girlfriend because we stay at Jikwoi, and when I got to Nyanya to pick a bus to town, I spent a very long time waiting for one. After the long wait, we decided to stand at different spots if that could facilitate it. But hardly had my friend boarded a vehicle than I decided to stroll down a bit. Suddenly, I heard a deafening blast and found myself on the ground.
I was unconscious for some minutes and when I recovered and cried for help, I noticed that I was almost naked because the impact tore my trousers into pieces and injured me at several points. I did not mind my condition because I was more interested in knowing whether my friend survived too.
It was when I saw her also looking for me that I begged them to take to me to the hospital. I was attended to, but I am yet to regain full fitness because I still have pains all over my body, especially my neck. However, no matter my condition, I cannot be compared to the dead bodies I saw litter the whole place.
The truth of the matter is that I never expected that another bombing would happen so quickly after the first one just few weeks ago. When I heard the bang, I thought it was from a burst tyre. In fact, I did not have any premonition that it would happen again almost at the same place too soon. Honestly, I am still in shock because I don’t know why this should be happening to me.
Another escape
I escaped the first bomb blast by the whiskers only for this to almost cut my life short. As a matter of fact, after surviving this, I have taken a decision in this hospital bed that it is time to return home. God has done me much favour by saving me from the two blasts.
They were close shaves and enough signals to me that the time is up to leave Abuja. I will relocate to the village until government puts measures in place to reassure us that the city is safe.
The two bomb blasts are signs that Abuja is no longer a safe place to live. If it is this bad and tense now, how possible is it to live in Abuja when the elections come?