“Boko Haram Killed 36 Igbos In Jos Bombing, 42 Injured” – Eze Igbo , Prof Jerom Obilom

The Igbo community in Jos, Plateau State, said
that it lost 36 members while 42 others were
injured in the May 20 twin bomb blasts that
rocked the Jos market.
The community also said many of its members
were still missing even as it bemoaned the loss of
goods worth millions of naira by the Igbos.
The Eze Igbo in Jos, Prof. Jerome Obilom, who
addressed newsmen on Monday, said that the
community abhorred the mass burial, allegedly
being secretly conducted by the state
government, without informing members of the
community since Ndigbo did not favour burying
their dead outside their homestead.
Obilom said that the authorities of some hospitals
had been very hostile when the community, led by
the Chairman of the Igbo Community Association,
Chief Jonah Ezekwueme, visited to identify
victims of the blasts, who were of Igbo extraction.
He said, “While recognising the fact that some of
the victims were shattered into shreds, which
necessitated that some body parts needed the
mass burial, we still insist that Ndigbo in Jos
should have been consulted to identify their own
because it is not our customs to bury our dead
outside our traditional homes.
“We therefore condemn such act and implore the
authorities to allow Ndigbo access to the bodies
so that those missing could be accounted for
because if we had been allowed inside the
mortuary, we would have been able to identify
many of our members who were unfortunately
caught up in the bomb blast.”
He said that the community had been able to
identify the dead through towns and community
that took the roll calls of their members.
The Ezeigbo deplored a situation where Ndigbo
were neglected in the distribution of relief
materials and urged the authorities to send such
materials to aid the victims and their families.
He also asked the Plateau State government to
hasten efforts in the relocation of street traders to
the satellite market in the Rukuba Road area of
Jos, adding that the congestion caused by the
traders along the busy road was responsible for
the heavy losses caused by the bomb blast.
“While we appreciate all efforts being made by the
state government to sanitise the market, we plead
that government should strengthen the satellite
market and move all traders there so that
bombers would not have any easy means of
causing mass harm as they did in the last
incident,” he added.
[Reported By PUNCH NG