Mother Of Nyanya Explosion Victim Recalls The Tragic Day

Lydia Nwange, mother of a 15-year-old victim of April 14 Nyanya bombing, narrated to Premium Times how the tragedy came to their family.

Photo: Lydia Nwange

It would be recalled that this explosion became the direst attack in the history of Abuja, the country capital, having left 74 people dead and more than 200 injured.

On the fateful day Mrs. Nwange, okpa seller, left her daughter with a one day sales portion of okpa at the park, but soon after that the planted bomb went off, and upon the mother’s quick arrival the girl was all in flames.

She tried desperately to save her kid, but all the efforts failed.

Chinazor Nwange was the first child on the family and “the closest to me”, as the woman confessed to the interviewer.

Shockingly, the day before the tragedy hit Abuja outskirts the girl had said to her mother that it would be her last time to go with her because she planned to travel for church retreat the next day, to which Mrs. Nwange agreed.

On the day her daughter died, the woman left her hardworking child to sell okpa at one place and left to do the same thing at another place in the same area. Soon she heard the deafening sound and saw the fire.

“I ran towards that side shouting, my child, my child. As I got to the spot, I saw the okpa on a tray and the umbrella just where I told my daughter to sit, then I saw my daughter just right beside the okpa, burning; she was still alive and struggling in the fire. It was just her toes left. I screamed and rushed to rescue my daughter but I realised people were holding me back, warning that I might be consumed in the fire too.”

According to the victim’s parents, they haven’t seen the daughter’s body yet, after having visited numerous hospitals.

When asked about how she has lived since Chinazor’s death, the grieving Mrs. Nwange confessed she has been spending her time indoors “in pains and tears” over the loss of her child and added:

“At every move I make in the house I remember her and how I saw her burn to death and could do nothing to save her.”

See the emotional piece by Premium Times below: