24 hours after a carefully planted bomb went off, killing no fewer than 100 people and leaving over 176 others with various degrees of injuries, Nyanya Motor Park, the scene of the incidence has turned into a ‘Mecca’ of sort, as people troop out to visit the area.
Motorists passing through the road to Abuja metropolis slowed down to catch a glimpse of the scene, thus causing traffic gridlock on the road. Many others were seen looking down from Nyanya Overhead Bridge.
Stern-looking security and law enforcement agents from the military, police, Department of State Service, DSS, Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, were stationed round the area, warning people not to step closer.
However, an unpleasant smell was oozing out of the place, compelling motorists and onlookers to cover their nostrils.
Among the people who were pushing to gain access to the scene was a 32 year-old man who identified himself as Peter, an uncle of a missing cousin he called Angelina.
“My sister is
new in Abuja”
He told Vanguard that his missing cousin, a 23-year-old girl staying with him in Nyanya came to Abuja just two months ago.
According Peter, the girl left the house at 5:30 in the morning to meet up an 8:30 job appointment, but nothing has been heard from her since, even as her phones were switched off.
Peter said he was at the scene to check if he could trace the missing cousin through any means, having gone round the various hospitals where both the dead and survivors were taken to Monday.
The visibly worried man appealed to this reporter to tell security men to allow him have access to where the burnt belongings of the victims were kept, saying he may see any of his cousin’s belongings or ID card of a business centre where she was working.
He said: “She just came to Abuja to seek a job, having finished her National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, programme.
“Angelina has been in Abuja for just two months. Who and where does she know here in Abuja that she would go without calling to inform me in view of the current situation in Nyanya?”
