I saw human parts everywhere

What is your name?

My name is Celine Akpabio. EMAB Plaza is just behind where I work.

What did you witness when the bomb went off?

It was horrible. I went for a couple of meetings and then returned to my office. I took a brief nap afterwards and five minutes later, a loud sound woke me up and I felt the whole building shaking. All the frames I hung on the wall fell down. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. Immediately we heard the sound of the blast, everyone in the building ran to the spot where it happened. While we were walking human towards the place, we saw different body parts everywhere, thrown on top of cars and lying on the ground, like chunks of meat and there was blood everywhere.

How would you describe the rescue operations?

I was actually surprised because they were really fast. I think it was between five to seven minutes after the blast that they came there with sirens blaring from their cars. They took victims and the injured to the hospital.

Do you know anyone who was affected by the blast?

Yes, the taxi driver who takes me around town was involved. The taxi driver’s car was always parked where the blast occurred. When I called his telephone number, it didn’t go through. But later, my mum told me that the taxi driver called her and was crying that an object pierced his stomach. He was in pains. He had just got there, parked his car and left to buy something when the explosion happened. I do my hair at the plaza and tried calling my hairdresser, but her line wasn’t going through.

This is the third blast in Abuja since April. Are you scared of going to public places like shopping malls?

I don’t go to public places that much. Although sometimes I have meetings in public malls, I don’t spend much time there. Like the other day, I was telling people who came to the cinema if they were not scared of coming there often. Even at EMAB, where I go to make my hair, I mentioned the same thing to them. I don’t go to watch movies because those places are crowded most times. Even when there is a traffic jam, I come down from the car and walk to wherever I am going to or take another taxi. That’s how I live. I don’t know of others. But I guess other people are also scared. I don’t go to restaurants that much also. People still go about their normal businesses in Abuja. At the end of the day, life still goes on.

How should the government improve on security in Abuja?

They should not focus on one place; they should comb other areas too and mount regular checks in these places. They should employ more security operatives so as to tighten the security in public places in Abuja because this is the Federal Capital Territory. I even doubt if the CCTV works because it would have captured everything.