10-month-old baby reunites with ‘missing’ mother in hospital

The Custodian April 16, 2014

A 10-month-old baby simply identified as Goodness, who was rescued from the scene of the Monday bomb blast in Nyanya near Abuja,  has been reunited with her mother in hospital.

Goodness was separated from her mother, Gloria Adams, who was presumed dead in the explosion.

Before she was taken from the Asokoro Hospital to the Wuse General Hospital where her mother is receiving treatment in  the Intensive Care Unit, Goodness spent Tuesday morning sleeping.

Medical workers and her aunt, Maria Dominic, looked after the little baby who had only a slight swelling close to one of her eyes.

Her mother suffered severe injuries and is one of the two left in the Wuse General Hospital’s ICU after one other victim died.

Gloria, according to a hospital source  said she was carrying Goodness on her back when the blast occurred.

The hospital source quoted her as saying, “I cannot remember how I got here.  I only saw myself on the ground, turning and turning. Then someone came and removed my baby from my back.”

The source said Gloria was very happy to see her baby alive.

“I’m feeling better. Many have died; but I am alive. I give glory to God, for saving me and my little baby,” she told the hospital workers.

While Gloria could afford to smile on sighting her baby, Mrs. Hilda Shaka, an employee of the Bank of Agriculture, fainted outside the hospital on learning of the death of her ex-colleague, Jonathan John.

When efforts by her colleagues who were also in the hospital to make her regain consciousness failed, she was rushed to another hospital where she was admitted.

A member of staff of BOA   said, “Two of our colleagues were involved in yesterday (Monday)   explosion   and their cases were severe. Some of us are here hoping that they will recover, but after a series of medical attention on John, he still couldn’t make it.

“When Mrs. Shaka heard of John’s death, she fainted. We thought it was a joke, but after spending so much time trying to revive her without success, we decided to rush her to another hospital. But we thank God that she is recovering.”

A relation of another victim, Mr. Hamza Umar, told one of our correspondents at the same Wuse hospital that his brother, Isa Nuhu, was among those burnt to death at the scene of the blast.

Umar said that it was too painful that after  one of his younger  brothers watched Nuhu burn to death, they had  yet to find out the mortuary where his body was deposited.

He added, “We had been to the National Hospital before but we are going back there now. We don’t know what to do. My brother sells recharge cards and repairs handsets.

“One of our brothers saw him on the ground with his legs already burnt. There was also fire on his body but security agents did not allow the guy to go and stop the fire and so he died.”

A community leader in Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, Chief Waziri Yemide, said two of his children, Audu and Babangida, were seriously injured in the explosion.

 He said, “I feel unhappy over the blast but  I  thank God because none of them is dead. The only one that is in the hospital has wounds on his legs.”

A survivor, Oguike Charles, told one of our correspondents at the Asokoro General Hospital, that he had been lucky to escape death in Abuja.

 “This is the second time I have found myself lucky. I narrowly escaped the Nigerian Immigration Service recruitment tragedy in Abuja last month,” Charles added.