•Victim’s mother, Olugbemisola Alao
As many residents of Bodija and their relatives grapple with the effect of Tuesday’s explosion at Adeyi Close, YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE reports that while many are still fighting for their lives in various hospitals across Ibadan and some mourning the loss of loved ones, efforts are being made by residents and others to ensure that the disaster does not repeat itself.
While the Oyo State government is receiving accolades for being proactive in the face of Tuesday’s explosion disaster in Ibadan, residents of Bodija Estate under the auspices of Bodija Estate Residents Association (BERA) have commenced an enumeration of all persons living in the estate, reports Saturday Tribune.
Speaking through its chairman, Pastor Muyiwa Bamgbose, during a visit to some of the victims of the explosion in hospitals where they were receiving treatment on Thursday, the association said the move became necessary to prevent a repeat of the disaster.
Bamgbose said the residents were organising themselves and putting security in place to forestall a reoccurrence, noting that while Bodija is a low density and mind-your-business area, residents have embarked on a ‘know-your-neighbour’ drive.
“We want to know who is who. There was a meeting yesterday and we asked that they allowed us to scrutinise 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 able to say ‘go there and check that or what did you see?’” he added.
Bamgbose reiterated that individuals, churches and organisations willing to assist the victims were already getting in touch with the association, emphasising that BERA had launched a GIS link to capture information on damages and casualties. He urged people to use the links to report casualties and missing persons as well as to donate to the victims of the explosion.
He said: “It’s an overwhelming situation. Last night, somebody gave us information that there was somebody they believed was in one house. We were at the venue to direct the people who were there. The unfortunate thing is that soldiers were driving us back. We told them that we were not busybodies. We came here on genuine information. So, the situation is a bit confusing. Our concern is also the possible existence of other people in that category of other incidents. One thing is sure: there are a lot more casualties than being declared. Like I said, the soldiers there drove us back. Why that should happen in a city, I don’t know. They were brought in to help with security, but I hope we don’t regret getting them involved in security with that kind of behaviour. We tried to call their commanding officer because we met him here, but he didn’t pick his call and he didn’t call back. But the Civil Defence commander picked his call and spoke to his own people on site and his people appealed to the soldiers, but the soldiers would not listen to anybody. Nobody can now be sure of what is happening.”
He also said that residents were concerned about the handling of the situation, adding: “We feel there is the need for more 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.”
There is a popular Yoruba adage that says ‘A ki gbele eni, ka forum ro’ which literarily means that you can’t be in your house and have accidents or get into trouble. But this adage did not hold true for residents of streets in Adeyi Close, Old Bodija area of Ibadan as they not only broke necks and other parts of their bodies, they also lost their livelihoods and homes.
From Dejo Oyelese Street to Canon Odusanwo Close down to Aderinola Street and the surrounding areas, it is tales of woe and hopelessness as they battle with the effect of Tuesday’s explosion in their community.
The experience of many like Tobi Alao reinforces the veracity of the Yoruba prayer: ‘ohun ta je la nwa, maje ka pade ohun ti o je wa,’ that is, while we are going around looking for what to eat, may we not meet what will eat us. For many like Tobi, they met with tragedy while at their places of work, looking for what to eat.
Since Tuesday evening, many, aside from those at the University College Hospital (UCH), have made hospitals like Redeemer’s Hospital, Redeemer’s Hospital 2, behind Ibachi Chinese Restaurant, J-Rapha Hospital, Total Family Hospital, Basorun and many other hospitals yet to be identified their home. According to medical practitioners at the scene of the rescue, “doctors came from different private hospitals to help and they moved some of the survivors they saw that night to their clinic for better attention because many seen along the road surrounding the site were disoriented and didn’t know where they were. Many went home after their wounds were stitched and they stabilised at the scene.
Family members of those who were seriously wounded now camp around their relatives at the hospital. Many do not know what their next action will be or where they will go after everything settles down as they had lost their homes, properties and sources of income.
And while they at least know the situation of their family members, others are still trying to find their relatives and know whether they are dead or living as they had been unreachable since Tuesday night.
Currently, there is a lot of confusion and uncertainty, with survivors and family hoping and praying for the best.
Aftermath Tuesday’s blast
My son would have died, he’s in severe pain –Olugbemisola Alao
Olugbemisola Alao, a healthcare worker who resides outside the country but came home for Christmas is the mother of one of the survivors, Tobi Adesuyi Alao, who is currently receiving treatment at Total Family Hospital, Basorun. She narrated her experience in an interview with our correspondent.
She said: “I was called by my son who works within that territory that he had an accident. We all heard the explosion here at our house in Basorun, but I had no idea it was where my son was. I had thought the explosion was within Ikolaba, considering how massive and close the noise and how everywhere shook. So, I quickly drove down, but when I got there, what I saw wasn’t what I expected. My son was in a terrible situation; he couldn’t walk, there was blood all over him, his skull had an open flesh wound at the front and around his ears and he had lacerations on his back.
“I quickly picked him up and rushed him down to our family clinic because I knew if he didn’t get immediate attention, it would be tragic. Before the doctor could come, the nurses and I had to do the needful, stitch him up in many places and then try to manage his fractures and bruises. After we stabilised him, I had to go with the doctor to help with the rescue of others.
“Presently, we are hopeful that the worst is over. He is in severe pain. He is very weak and we are only using medication to help with the pain, and he is still suffering from shock. His legs and hands had fractures. From what we gathered when he could talk, he was about to leave work when it happened. He was still within the premises of his workplace, but the blast threw him outside the compound and he landed in the drainage. It was from the drainage that he started crawling and dragging himself towards where there was little visibility and that was what saved him because we wouldn’t have seen him.”
In her experience trying to rescue others, she said: “I’m used to the system, it is part of my job, but you know, in Nigeria, things are peculiar; the medical line needs assistance, especially in terms of equipment, because when we got there that night, we could not even see anything. The people we rescued, we had to use our phone torchlight; we had nothing to work with. Some people under the rubble were calling for help and we were using our hand to pack rubble. Some brought shovels and diggers, we were all trying to do something to reach the people under the rubble until the deputy governor came and said they were bringing crane and flood lights; that they should organise diesel from somewhere and we were told to hold on and watch our steps because we were all in danger.
“Before I got to the scene, I knew from experience that it was an explosion from a grenade or an explosive gadget because of the smell I perceived even from my house. Government needs to help with bills. There are some with more critical cases than mine. The people affected need help.”
Getting to the hospital on time saved Tobi’s life, we rescued five others – Nurse
Adeyemi Toyin, a nurse at Total Family Hospital was one of the people that first attended to Tobi and she also went to the explosion site to help. Speaking with our correspondent on what they saw when Tobi was brought in, she said: “It was a dicey situation. He had deep wounds, especially on his forehead and ears. So many bruises and he was bleeding heavily. He lost a lot of blood, but we thank God that he was brought him on time and his mother is also a health worker who knew what to do. That was what saved him. If he hadn’t gotten immediate medical attention, he would not have survived.”
On what prompted her to also join the rescue, she said: “After we heard the news, my boss, Dr Foluke George, mobilised us to go to the place because, she said, many people would need help and medical attention. We were able to help five people. Some went home and others were taken to hospitals.”
The blast took my son from our gate at Dejo Oyelese Street to somewhere around BON Hotel –Mrs Oseni
The mother of another survivor who is being treated at Redeemers Hospital 2, behind Ibachi Chinese Restaurant, Mrs Oseni, said she was at home when the explosion occurred.
“I was at home that day. It was round 7.45pm when we suddenly heard a loud noice and felt strong vibration. Our house is a duplex, but we were downstairs. Everything scattered at once – the ceiling, windows and doors. The whole place was littered with broken glasses, the ceiling was falling and everywhere was dark. We couldn’t see ourselves at all; we were just shouting.
“We thought the world had come to an end; we thought that rapture had come. 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 that 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 erratically because he had inhaled so much dust and couldn’t talk anymore. We took him back home because we thought it was something we could treat ourselves and because there was chaos everywhere, 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 advised that we move him to the ICU,” she added.
I am confused; I have lost my home, business and I almost lost my son —Toyin Ganiyu
For Toyin Ganiyu, it is mixed emotions. While she is thanking God that her 18-year-old son, Malik, survived and is responding to treatment at Redeemer’s hospital, Bodija, she is in turmoil as she lost her business and home in the blast.
Speaking with our correspondent, she stated that: “I am yet to come to terms with what happened. I would be lying if I told you I understand. I was at my shop when I heard the loud bang. I lost everything. I couldn’t bring out anything. It affected my residence. My home and shop at 8B, Aderinola Street, are now just rubble. My family has nowhere to stay after we leave this hospital. This is a terrible time for us.”
Security agents not attuned to needs of medics, we need systemic response to disasters –Dr Foluke Olaniyi George
Dr Foluke Olaniyi George is the Managing Director of Total Family Hospital at Basorun and one of the rescue volunteers at the scene of the blast. She narrated her experience to our correspondent.
She said: “I was at home when the blast happened and I knew that it was going to be something major and most likely involve casualties. I called the hospital that the people on ground should be ready to move out and I start gathering information from X (formerly Twitter). Not too long after, there were questions on the platform of a group I belong to, the Health Hub, comprising doctors in Nigeria. People wanted to know what was going on in Ibadan and pictures started coming in. I sent a message to the NMA chairman. I am a committee member of the association and they also started seeing how they could coordinate and get things done.
“Tobi was the one that was brought here by his people and his mum was the one that informed us that at the site, there wasn’t enough medical assistance. As such, I felt we don’t need to wait until they bring patients, some need immediate assistance and they would be fine, so Tobi’s mum took us there and like five of us went. But this is what I noticed: it was difficult to get there because there were so many vehicles and so many people that do not really have business being there. This is dangerous, rescue should be quick and we should be able to move victims out to where they will get treated quickly but the whole place was blocked and though it looked like they were ambulances of emergency agencies, they blocked access. The first thing we noticed is that security agents were not attuned to the fact that medics needed to go in and out during the rescue, so they sent us back.
“So, we had to dump the car and walk with the medical materials we took to the site. From the point we got down, we started treating people, we saw a survivor that wasn’t coherent so we started from him and put him in the vehicle of another colleague who came from another private hospital so he could be treated and taken to the hospital when the road cleared. We saw many people along the way that needed attention and we were attending to them as we moved to the site, so many bruises and lacerations that had to be stitched and we did those on the spot
“We eventually got to the site, and we saw a corpse, but luckily, one of the directors in the ministry had made provisions for it to be moved. We went there with our light so we had to hand it over so rescue workers can go inwards, everything was haphazard and I was wondering why people were careless at the site but when the commissioner came, she collated the things needed for rescue like flood lamps and power then hospitals where other people were sent to and find out the severity of injuries and figures. She was on ground and then the deputy governor also came for a spot assessment so the commissioner handed over the lists. They brought the things that night though we left there at midnight
“Nigeria has hardworking and intelligent individuals. What we need is to harness this. The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) at UCH amazed me. They did excellently. They got themselves together and they were coordinated. We need to have a systemic response to disaster so when there is an emergency, everyone knows what is expected of them and they will do it in sync. ARD did a lot that day. They mobilised doctors and medical students, donated blood and at a point, the doctors were more than the victims. This is huge at a time like this when we talk about japa. I commend them. There are many unsung heroes. If we all do we can do at all times, and not only during emergencies like this, we will have a better society.”
Government response was prompt – Professor Kamil Oloso
A former Head of Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Ibadan, Professor Kamil Koyejo Oloso, whose relative was a survivor, also spoke with our correspondent. He said: “The victim is my child because he is my brother’s child and we are also neighbours. We actually share the same fence. When I heard the news that night, I couldn’t even think of anything because we were hearing conflicting reports which made it difficult to really understand what was going on. I never imagined someone close to me was affected.
“While the conflicting reports made things difficult, the good thing is that the response of the government was very prompt. They have taken many steps to ensure things go back to normal and make sure the victims are managed. That is laudable. We can only pray against future occurrences.
“When I heard of my son’s involvement, I thought it was a minor thing. Even when I spoke with his father, I thought he was just passing by and something just hit him. I never knew it was grave. But we thank Almighty Allah that it is not worse than this. The lesson here is that people should know that mining in a residential area is unacceptable and people should know that explosives should not be kept at home.”
Patients in various hospitals
Currently, there are many survivors in various hospitals, taken there by family members or rescue workers, who are not speaking and may not be counted. This has given rise to the resident association taking it upon itself to start locating such individuals.
Some of the victims in this category are presently unable to talk about their experience due to shock, pain and many other conditions. Others are responding well to treatment and quietly managing their pains. One of such is Adebola Omikunle, a nursing mother whose address was given as 8A, Aderinola Street and an old woman, Josephine Isaac, who was living with her daughter at No. 2, Canon Odusanwo Close.
