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Inspite of the promise made by the Federal Government to foot the hospital bills of the victims of the Nyanya blasts and donations by individuals and corporate organizations to the Boko Haram Victims Relief Fund, Mrs. Monica Solomon, who suffered severe burns in the May 1 Nyanya blasts, has alleged being abandoned at the Gwagwalada Specialist Hospital. Her story:
On May 1, I was going to work. I alighted from commercial motorcycle and decided to buy mango at Nyanya bus stop, after which I was waiting to catch a bus to town.
Not quite 10 minutes after, I turned and saw a man standing behind me while I was on queue.
I became apprehensive and my spirit told me to move away from there. In fact, my spirit did not just like the way the man was standing. I could not ascertain whether he was a passenger or not. Two minutes later, I heard a blast.
When I heard the blast I shouted ‘Jesus Christ’. I became unconscious, the next thing I felt was somebody pushing me out of fire.
He kept pushing me until it got to a point and I said ‘let me see the person pushing me’. When I opened my eyes I didn’t see anybody. At that point, I jumped up, and was shouting Jesus Christ’.
That was when one man saw me and said ‘don’t jump again madam’, he made me sit on the ground until a vehicle came and conveyed us to Maitama General Hospital. I was later transferred to Wuse Hospital. After two weeks at Wuse Hospital, I was again referred to Gwagwalada Specialist Hospital.
We (blast victims) used to receive free food at the Wuse Hospital but since we came to Gwagwalada Specialist Hospital, the reverse is the case. Here we buy food and we buy most drugs.
When we asked, the hospital management said they do not have all the drugs needed for our treatment.
Even, often times, when we go the pharmacy for drugs, they tell us they don’t have, especially if it is more than N250.
The two FCT Ministers came once and promised that government will take care of our treatment, but, after that, nothing happened.
I ought to have been discharged, but because of the nationwide strike by doctors, my treatment is getting prolonged.
During the strike, only nurses were around to attend to me, though the consultant who treats me used to come once a while. The consultant promised to come and carry out a skin grafting on me before the strike but, since then, she has not come.
On how she copes
She said she has been depending on her husband, well wishers and good spirited Nigerians.
Monica, a staff of a gambling firm, Demo Casino Company, said, “I have not been finding it easy. Lying in the hospital since May with pains. I always think of my three children, aged 17, 8 and 6.
I feel bad that government abandoned me, leaving my husband to bear all this burden.
What I need from government is financial support. I am always in pains especially in the night and during dressing. Again, if I eventually leave this place, I do not know what will happen.
I may not be allowed to go back to my working place, so I will need money with which to start life afresh. Besides, I can’t go back to my working place with this skin.
If government can help me start up a business, I will be glad.
My husband sold his car for my treatment. I know he did it because he values my life more than the car and I am hopeful that the God that delivered me from the jaws of death will also bring me out of this hospital and bring another car.
I am appealing to government and well-meaning Nigerians to come to my aid on the skin grafting operation rafting so that the pain will reduce.”
The husband, Adebosun Solomon, also spoke on the challenges that face the family as a result of the burns his wife suffered in the blast.
“This situation is above my power. I live in Nyanya and from there I come to Gwagwalada everyday to see my wife, with all the traffic gridlock on the road,”he stated.
“Before that, I have to take care of my three children. The burden is just too much for me to carry, two of my sisters-in-law were with my wife, but after one took ill, she had to go home.
“For three months, she could not walk, we have to assist her to do everything, like a baby, even to feed her.
“I am appealing to well-meaning Nigerians to come to our aid. We are two here but the other person has received some support from government and they did not come to us. I don’t know why they left us out, maybe they did not see us as Nigerians.
If the president’s wife can send N1.5m to the next bomb blast victim for treatment, then what is wrong with my wife’s case?
“I first mortgaged my car (a Murano SUV) to enable me assist my wife because we are asked to buy most of the drugs. After initially mortgaging the car, I had to sell it outright, at a give-away price, since I couldn’t pay back within the agreed period of time.
“Managing the children and coming here has not been easy for me. It is so hectic that even when I fall sick I can’t sit at home when my wife is at the hospital.
My plea is that government should return the money I have spent so far, about N2.5m on the treatment and feeding, get this skin grafting done and she will be free. You can imagine the trauma she is going through. In fact she doesn’t sleep every night.
They brought us here with the hope and promise that government will bear the cost but where is the government now.
“One Senior Assistant to the First Lady came here once and has not come back since then. Another person from NEMA who said the DG sent him also came and said he was asked to come and greet my wife , that is all.
