An educational consultant, Shuaibu Adamu Baba, yesterday told how he hired a driver, one Sani Mohammed, all the way from Niger State to submit a business proposal document in Abuja but lost the driver in the EMAB shopping mall bomb blast of Wednesday.
Baba, who was practically weeping as he spoke with LEADERSHIP, said he was feeling guilty over Sani’s death because, according to him, the driver initially refused to go but was compelled after much entreaty.
Sani, a husband of three wives and father of eight children, was among the victims who were inside their vehicles right in front of the plaza when the bomb exploded. He said he lost the driver because he wanted to make a N10 photocopy for an acknowledgement copy of the business proposal inside the EMAB Plaza.
Baba said: “Sani Mohammed never wanted to come to work, but I pleaded with him to bring me to town. The driver is a father to eight children and husband to three wives.
“I am a consultant. I was to submit a letter; so I said I should make an acknowledgement copy. That was how I decided to come to EMAB Plaza to make the photocopy. I went inside the business centre while my driver waited for me inside the car. It was while he was waiting that the bomb went off and he died.
“The annoying part is that he never wanted to come to work today. I was the one who pleaded with him to bring me to the office. And he is dead just because of N10.”
Adamu, who is a Niger State indigene, said the blast was full of horror: “I have not seen this type of destruction before, but today I will tell anybody that I have seen it. There were a lot of human bodies scattered. Some of the human bodies you cannot see them complete. They were in pieces. And you can see some of the security agents have been picking the human bodies and putting them inside nylon bags. These people are victims of circumstances because they came here for business.
“This driver was not supposed to bring me here but I had to compel him to bring me here and this is the end. And he is the one taking care of his wives and children. These children attend school and he was their breadwinner; so how are we going to care for them?”
