We ate together the same day he died in Jos bomb blast - Students mourning schoolmates

“Mike was the Bible Study Secretary of the fellowship, we were also roommates. He was a committed and devoted Christian and very jovial. He did most of the cooking and often made fun of me whenever I chose to cook. On the day of the incident, we ate together before we parted ways for classes. He was good friend and close brother. Mike could go anywhere for the things of God.”

Those were the words of Opeyemi Ogunjemilehin, a student of the University of Jos, mourning the loss of one of their colleagues, Micheal Ogbote, who was among those killed in the twin bomb explosions that rocked the Terminus Market, Jos, Plateau State, on Tuesday.

Students of the university, especially those in the Department of Laboratory Science Technology, will not forget the devastating effect of that bomb explosion in a hurry. It left many people in agony and claimed the lives of seven final year students of the same department.

Since Tuesday, the department has been in a state of mourning and academic activities paralyzed. Representatives of the department and other students have been moving from one hospital to another in search of their classmates allegedly caught up in the blast.

Saturday Tribune learnt that the seven students –identified as Micheal Ogbote, Francisca Nwafor, Lydia Komolafe, Dolapo, Milly Yusuf, Doris Gegunem and Vivian Chiamaka – where members of the same class and had just finished lecture and were heading back to their hostel when the bomb exploded about 2:30 p.m.

Many of the students are yet to come to terms with the reality of losing their colleagues. A cross section of them who spoke with Saturday Tribune were still dazed and wore mournful looks.

The President, Association of Laboratory Medical Science Students of the university, who is also a classmate of the deceased, Mensah Bulus, described the incident as horrible.

He said he was with the seven of them shortly before the bomb blast.

“Before the incident, we were all in a class and shortly after the lecture, everybody filed out and the seven of them that died went towards the same direction. I overheard them discussing the lecture of the day as they walked along towards the scene of the incident,” he said.

“The report I got indicated that two of our classmates walked passed them and few seconds after, there was a bang of explosion and those within the vicinity scampered for safety,” Bulus added.

According to him, the two students who had walked ahead of the seven were lucky to escape the blast, and they later started calling the seven they left behind to know if they had also escaped but could not connect. They then raised the alarm.

“Since then, we have been searching for them. The situation is horrible. We missed seven of our students from 500 Level class; but for now, two of them have been identified. Five are still missing. Up till now, we did not know if the five were among those burnt beyond recognition,” Bulus said further.

Saturday Tribune gathered that three of the students – Micheal Ogbole, Vivian Obialor and Lydia Komolafe – were members of the Redeemed Christian Fellowship, University of Jos. Virtually all the members of the fellowship joined the search team until the corpses of two of the seven (Michael and Francesca) were identified at the Jos University Teaching Hospital mortuary.

The President of the fellowship, Opeyemi Ogunjemilehin, said the three members involved in the disaster were staunch members of the fellowship, as well as good friends and close confidants.

“Mike was the Bible Study Secretary of the fellowship. We were also roommates. He was a committed and devoted Christian and very jovial. He did most of the cooking and often made fun of me whenever I chose to cook. On the day of the incident, we ate together before we parted ways for classes. He was a good friend and close brother. Mike could go anywhere for the things of God,” Ogunjemilehin said.

“Vivian was the Financial Secretary of the fellowship while Lydia was part of the decoration team. I remember vividly the role all of them played when the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor E. A. Adeboye, visited the University of Jos in May this year. Mike was part of protocol while the other two sisters were in charge of decoration. The fellowship will miss the three of them.”

Tosin Ajani is a 500 Level student of the department and friend to the seven of them that lost their lives in the explosion. She is still stunned by the death of her friends.

While speaking with Saturday Tribune, Tosin shed tears and refused to be consoled. She was said to have been very close to the seven students that died in the unfortunate incident.

“We started this course together and had been together for the past four years. It is unfortunate that I am going to miss them this way. Before the incident on Tuesday, we were together in the class joking with one another as usual, without knowing that that was the last time I would see them,” she said

Saturday Tribune gathered that apart from the two of the deceased whose bodies were identified, there are indications that the remaining five might have been burnt.

 

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We ate together the same day he died in Jos bomb blast - Students mourning schoolmates