Yemi Akinsuyi and Senator Iroegbu
No doubt, the dawn blast unsettled the city, nay the country, Monday, as the sceptre of insecurity was once again raised among the people of the Federal Capital territory (FCT), Abuja.
Those who witnessed and survived the blast gave graphic account of how it all happened.
Speaking to THISDAY, one of the survivors and staff of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Sanusi Moyi, described how he was fortunate to have escaped death at dawn, which claimed 71 lives.
Moyi, who was driving along the Abuja-Keffi Expressway on his way to work, said he only heard a loud explosion that rattled his vehicle and suddenly seemed to have frozen the wheels of his car as it screeched to a sudden halt.
Speaking to THISDAY, one of the survivors and staff of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Sanusi Moyi, described how he was fortunate to have escaped death at dawn, which claimed 71 lives.
Moyi, who was driving along the Abuja-Keffi Expressway on his way to work, said he only heard a loud explosion that rattled his vehicle and suddenly seemed to have frozen the wheels of his car as it screeched to a sudden halt.
“As I passed the overhead bridge, I just heard a loud explosion and suddenly an object rammed my car and my windscreen shattered. The vehicle halted and I was confused about what was happening until I saw large smoke coming from burning vehicles with road safety officers picking dead and injured people,” he narrated.
Similarly, another survivor, who also volunteered to rescue people, was one Prince James Igwe. He said the explosion occurred at 6.30am.
Igwe painted a more telling scenario of the events leading to the explosion before he was interrupted by security officials who forbade him from speaking to the media to avoid giving conflicting facts and figures.
He said: “A vehicle ran in here and parked blocking the exit point of the fully loaded el-Rufai buses. When the driver noticed, he horned but no one responded and he tried to reverse but could not as other buses were parked both behind and on the side.
“It was during this process (of looking for an exit) that the car exploded and all the drivers and passengers of the four vehicles in front died on the spot.”
Also, an eyewitness and a member of staff of Abuja Urban Mass Transit, Mr. Monday Isiaku, put the number of casualties at several dozens, with many more wounded.
Isiaku explained that the park is usually crowded in the morning, with many people disembarking or taking various vehicles and commercial motorcycles to work.
Isiaku explained that the park is usually crowded in the morning, with many people disembarking or taking various vehicles and commercial motorcycles to work.
“You can imagine that four of the el-Rufai vehicles were fully loaded with about 47, 59, 59 and 45 passengers,” he said.
According to another eyewitness account, the large explosion which was felt a mile away from the vicinity and in the adjourning towns of Karu, Kugbo, Abacha Barracks, Kurudu, Asokoro, and as far as Maraba-Masaka axis in Nassarawa State, caused panic within the environs of the FCT.
Similarly, a former reporter with the African Independent Television (AIT), Mr. Kunle Adewale, who lives close to the scene of the explosion, said he was in the bathroom when he heard the explosion, but by the time he rushed to the scene, many luxury buses were already burnt along with their occupants.
“As I was coming out of the bathroom this morning (yesterday), I heard a very loud explosion close to my house. As a journalist, I ran to the place and what I met brought goose pimples all over my body.
“Fully loaded el-Rufai buses, Keke NAPEPs (commercial tricycles), commercial bikes, passersby and others, were already charred and scores of lifeless bodies were on the floor. Human bodies were scattered on the ground and everybody was running helter-skelter. It has never happened like this before,” he said.
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