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A man has lost four sons to the multiple explosions that rocked Maiduguri, Borno State, on Monday, Daily Trust reports.
The blasts, which occurred at the gate of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), the Monday Market roundabout, and the Post Office area, left about 27 people dead and many others injured.
A trader, Usman Lawan, on Wednesday recounted how his neighbour, Ba Musa, who lives in Gwange Sabon Layi, lost four sons in the incident.
He said the children were caught in the explosion while on their way to buy eyeglasses for the Sallah celebration.
Speaking to Daily Trust during Vice President Kashim Shettima’s visit to UMTH, Lawan said: “We had finished our Iftar, and I was pushing my fruit cart when the blast happened. I found myself in the hospital. I lost everything in that attack.”
“He bought them new clothes and shoes, and they came to our place to buy eyeglasses for Sallah celebrations. The blast killed all of them. They were buried yesterday,” he added.
A security guard at the hospital, who sustained injuries to his arms and legs, told the BBC how the incident unfolded.
“I was sitting outside the hospital when three people arrived on a motorbike. I noticed something suspicious and asked them to leave. They returned a second time, and when I refused to let them in, they threw a food container at me. It hit my hand and fell to the ground, about to explode. I lay down and heard a loud bang. As I tried to run inside, another container exploded and struck my leg,” he said.
“The bomb went off outside the hospital like a palm tree. Many others died,” he added.
A woman who survived the blast but lost her daughter said: “We had just arrived at the hospital when the bomb went off. I fell, and my daughter collapsed lifeless. Her head was badly injured. They brought me inside and told me she was gone. I prayed to God because He gave her to me and took her. Her father died when she was five months old.”
Other traders caught in the explosions also spoke to Daily Trust from their hospital beds in Maiduguri. Some are receiving treatment at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), Specialist Hospital, and Umaru Shehu Hospital.
