Bauchi Bomb Survivor Narrates Ordeal

Survived victims of last Friday’s explosion at First Bank, Azare, Bauchi State narrated ordeal.
Some of the victims who sustained injuries and are receiving treatment at the Federal Medical Centre, Azare, are grateful to God for sparing their lives.

Giving account of what happened, Mohammed Garba, a civil servant, said the bomber came to the ATM machine and joined the queue.

He said the bomber was wearing a white Caftan and carried something that looked like a bag.

“You know First Bank is usually patronized by many residents, particularly civil servants. There were like 25 customers waiting to make transactions. I was the second to the last person on the queue before the bomb exploded.

“When the bomb exploded, the whole place was covered with smoke and human parts littered the ground. I was lucky that I did not sustain injury. When I recovered, I quickly left the scene before,” he said. 

An eyewitness said the incident occurred around 9 a.m. as customers were on queue to make withdrawals at the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) of the bank, adding that some people died instantly while others died as they were being taken to hospital. 

Another survivor explained that most of the dead were civil servants trying to withdraw their salaries.

He said: “Most of the victims were civil servants because salaries were being paid and the queue was quite long. I just arrived the bank, not up to five minutes, when I heard an explosion that almost shattered my ear drums. I immediately started running for my life.” 

According to a student at the College of Education, Azare who lost her colleague in the incident, there was pandemonium after the blast as hoodlums took advantage of the situation to attack innocent residents.