Bala Nasir, Kano
A fisherman, Muntari Umar Dami, 51, was at a fish pond near the Zone One Police Headquarters in Kano around 5:00pm when he suddenly heard an explosion from behind where he was, which made him to suddenly turn back to see what was happening. As he turned, he saw something like a rod in a flash speeding towards him and as he tried to decipher what it was and how to save himself from being hit, at the same time, he battled with the option of falling into the pond and running for dear life.
But in a wave of shock something hit him hard and it was as if he was the target of the unknown flying object, leaving him with a fractured arm. He concluded that he might have used his hand to shield his head in the process of wading off the object. In another instance, a sharp metal pierced his right foot and before he knew it he had fallen to the ground with blood gushing from the wound.
"I was with one of my boys when it happened. I didn't know when I shouted because I was experiencing excruciating pain then. The boy was so shocked that he just stood there looking helpless as he did not know what to do", Dami narated.
It later dawned on him that there must have been a bomb explosion and that he was a victim. This was further confirmed when he heard the blaring of sirens and saw the pandemonium which followed as policemen from Zone 1, headquarte rs, few metres from where he was ran helter skelter.
He reasoned that being an ordinary fisher man, his own situation was worse because the authorities were unaware of his case as he was not a policeman or any security operative, more so, the incident occurred outside the premises of the police command and there was no way he could present his case to the police headquarters which was also affected by the explosion.
However, help came the way of Dami as some good Samaritans came to his rescue and took him home to his family, who decided to take him to the hospital because he was bleeding profusely. He was therefore, taken to the emergency unit of the Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital, where he was admitted alongside victims of the later coordinated blasts which happened last week.
The fisherman regretted that though he only sustained injuries, he would have died from the bomb explosion and left behind his first son, delivered a month ago after more than thirty years of marriage. Expressing gratitude to God for sparing his life, he prayed that Kano and Nigeria as a whole would not experience a reoccurrence of such dastardly act.
