•Commuters, motorists shun park •Bomb survivors lament government neglect
By Fred Ezeh
It was on April 14, 2014, that a tragedy happened in Nyanya, a satellite town located a short distance from Asokoro, Abuja. Asokoro prides itself as the most expensive neighbourhood in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. It houses senior government officials, captains of industry and members of the diplomatic corps.
That day, the Nyanya motor park was ripped by bombs allegedly planted by Boko Haram terrorists. The incident claimed many lives, including security agents attached to the park.
Nearby Karu, Jikwoyi and Mararaba, also felt the shocks of the explosions as residents said their houses shook and the walls showed cracks akin to an earthquake. The blasts threw the entire country into mourning that fateful Monday morning.
Fear, anxiety and suspicion suddenly enveloped the entire city to the point that businesses, markets and government offices, without any pronouncement by the authorities, closed before the usual time, either to sympathise with the hundreds of families who were thrown into mourning or to run for safety.
It was gathered that the improvised explosive devices (IED) were planted by Boko Haram on Sunday night at the Nyanya bus terminal and successfully detonated on Monday morning at about 6:47am, when commuters had converged at the terminal to board vehicles to their various places of work or other destinations outside Abuja.
The incident forced tears down the cheek of virtually every Nigerian that either witnessed the unfortunate incident or watched the footage that was circulated on social and mainstream media. There were dismembered human body parts littered everywhere, as well as burnt vehicles, buses and human beings.
As if that was not enough, a few weeks later, on May 1, 2014, the terrorists detonated another IED at same bus terminal but in different spot; it also claimed the lives of transporters, passers-by and some other persons.
The Nyanya bus terminal seemingly became a soft target for Boko Haram after the directive by Engr. Jonathan Ivoke, the then executive secretary of the FCT Transport Secretariat, placing a ban on the activities of mini bus operators in Abuja city centre. The ban took effect on June 3, 2013.
As a palliative, the FCT administration procured hundreds of high-capacity buses to boost the existing bus fleet to serve commuters that hitherto used mini buses on the busy Nyanya route, which made the Nyanya terminal a busy transport hub overnight.
The fear, anxiety, tension and outrage rose to a peak later that evening of April 14 when news broke that over 200 schoolgirls from Government Secondary School (GSS), Chibok, Borno State, had been abducted by the insurgents from their hostel, where they were preparing for the Secondary School Certificate Examination.
The development sparked outrage across Nigeria and the world, resulting in a global campaign for the release of the schoolgirls. Former education Minister, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, Aisha Yesufu and Hadiza Bala Usman, were in the vanguard of the social media campaign with #BringBackOurGirls. The campaign which later attracted global attention culminated in a daily “sit out” and procession at the Unity Fountain to drive home their message.
They sustained the momentum for over three years until a few months ago when the federal government successfully secured the release of some of the girls.
The then FCT Minister, Sen. Bala Mohammed, who was confronted with a barrage of complaints and criticism, promised to rebuild the bus terminal and install security and surveillance systems to monitor the movement of people and vehicles to avoid a recurrence.
Mohammed also promised to expedite action on the Karshi-Apo road, using SURE-P funds, which was never done before he exited office.
INSIDE THE RENOVATED BUS TERMINAL
The security and bomb experts investigating the incident had requested that the terminal be closed temporarily to enable them gather clues and particles of the bomb that could help them investigate the blasts and arrive at a conclusion.
For over three years, the bus terminal was closed with little or no explanation from the FCT administration. However, the authorities evacuated the burnt vehicles and fumigated of the park to avoid an epidemic.
A contract was later awarded for the reconstruction of the park. While the renovation lasted, motorists and commuters using the road daily were exposed to what could best be described as ‘hell’.
They were forced to spend several hours during the morning and evening hours on the road because of the activities of some motorists that stopped on the road to either pick or discharge passengers. High-capacity buses also parked on the road, occupying a better part of the road. The result was traffic bedlam.
The authorities have had to explain to FCT residents why they kept the bus terminal closed for years despite the public outcry over the avoidable traffic gridlock that was caused by commercial vehicle operators on the Nyanya road.
But there was a cheering news last week when the FCT administration reopened the park for public use. The bus terminal was recently renovated and equipped with modern security and surveillance gadgets.
Security agents were also positioned at the entrance to search every passenger and vehicle that came into the park. Some other officials were positioned along the road corridor to monitir the activities of commuters and motorists who patronised the terminal.
Some passengers that spoke to Abuja Metro expressed their fear of using the facility despite the presence of security men employed to work round the clock monitoring human and vehicular movement.
Abuja Metro also observed that the high-capacity buses that hitherto parked along the road corridor to either pick or discharge passengers have been moved inside the terminal in an organised file, awaiting passengers. This, according to officials, was made possible by the FCT minister’s task force that was recently constituted to remove obstructions from the corridor.
One of the officials at the terminal who prefered not to be named told Abuja Metro that the park had been divided into three wings.
The big portion of the park was solely dedicated to the high-capacity buses, otherwise called “El-Rufai buses,” the other sides were allocated to taxi drivers to either pick or discharge passengers and inter-state vehicle drivers.
He confirmed that more security measures, including surveillance cameras, have been installed in the buses and around the bus park to monitor the activities of commuters in order to avoid what happened in April 2014.
SURVIVORS’ LAMENTATIONS
Three years after, the devastating incident has remained fresh in the minds of those that survived the blast unhurt or escaped with injuries.
Findings by Abuja Metro confirmed that neither the survivors nor the families of the deceased have seen the fulfillment of numerous promises made to them at the hospital by government or philanthropists shortly after the explosions. This was attested to by Yohanna Matthew, who escaped death at the scene with serious burns and fractures.
Yohanna from Kaduna State, lived with his brother, who deals in GSM recharge cards in Karu, Abuja.
As a low-income earner, Yohanna said that, at the start of every week, he would buy bus tickets that would last him for the week. So, every morning, he would walk into the park confidently and present his bus ticket to board a bus to his destination.
H had been doing this faithfully until that day in 2014 when he cheated death but came away with permanent scars that daily remind him of the multiple bomb explosions in Nyanya.
One of his brothers who nursed him back to health told Abuja Metro that a lot of money and resources went into Yahanna’s treatment.
“At a point, we were referred to orthopedic hospitals in Jos and Enugu. And we spent several weeks at the hospital trying to make some corrections on his body. Even though there’s an improvement, my brother is no longer himself. He has been defaced and disfigured,” he said.
A taxi driver popularly called Old School was unlucky to have died a few weeks after he was discharged from hospital. Old School drove a yellow-and-blue Chevrolet taxi that was on lease from the FCT Transport Secretariat. He left behind young wife, brothers, sisters and aged parents. He was said to be the breadwinner of the family.
A family member who identified herself as Nkeiruka told Abuja Metro that the family was yet to recover from the sudden death of their breadwinner.
She said that several government officials visited them in the hospital and made “mouth-watering” promises but shortly after they left, none returned to ask how they felt. Hospital management also evicted them when it became obvious that they could no longer cope with the medication due to the cost.
She said: “While we were in the hospital receiving treatment, many promises came from government officials, philanthropists and other sympathisers that visited the bedside but none has fulfilled the promises three years after the demise of our father.”
FCT MINISTER’S REMARKS
Meanwhile, FCT Minister’s spokesman, Alhaji Sani Abubakar, in a statement, said, “The journey to the reopening of the terminal was tortuous. Various security meetings were held to discuss the various implications or otherwise of its reopening.
“But I am happy to announce that the various security meetings favoured the reopening and that was why we reopened it.”
He assured the public that the terminal was safer than ever before for the use of the public. He said all security measures have been put in place to ensure the safety of life and property: “Law enforcement agents have also been mobilised to ensure security of in and around the terminal.”
The Minister through the statement commended the law enforcement agents, who had kept vigil at the site since April 2014 when the bomb blast incident occurred. He was delighted that their effort was what kept the enemy away from the vicinity and urged them to increase their vigilance as the terminal goes into full operation.
He said the law enforcement agents have been mobilized to arrest and prosecute any commuter that will hang along the road to board the buses, while any low capacity bus or unregistered taxi drivers that might want to circumvent the efforts of the FCT administration at sanitizing the public transportation sector would be punished.
The Minister confirmed that the refurbished terminal has three wings. He said the main terminal will house the high capacity buses while the two smaller wings would be for smaller buses and taxis, to serve as feeders where passengers going into the Abuja City Center will disembark and move over to the main terminal to join the big buses.
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