Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Reng Ochekpe has described the Jos bomb blast that led to the death of several people on Tuesday as barbaric and unfortunate.
Mrs. Ochekpe, along with her counterpart in Women Affairs and Social Development Mrs. Zainab Maina spoke in Jos, Plateau state on Wednesday, when they visited the Deputy Governor of Plateau State and the victims of the blast in the Specialist Hospital and Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH).
In an interview with journalists shortly after visiting the victims, Mrs Ochekpe said that the perpetrators of such evil act have not appreciated human life.
She said “we have seen inhuman act and it is sad that it is human being that have perpetrated this, if they appreciated life they would not do this, we have seen men, women and babies that have been affected, whatever the grievances of those who are doing these there no is justification for the kind of destruction they are bringing upon Nigerians. The trauma to the people, the distraction from purposeful leadership and development, the confusion created in the country are uncalled for at all, so we condemn this act and we call on Nigerians to be more alert”.
She further said “from what we heard, if people were a little more conscious the casualty would have not been so high, so we are appealing to Nigerians that whenever incidence like this happen they should not rush to go and observe, they should allow the security agencies that are trained to handle the situation”.
The Minister also commended the security agencies and Government of Plateau State for quick response to get the injured to the hospital and also to evacuate the dead bodies.
While praying for the quick recovery of the injured victims, the Minister commiserated with the families of those who lost their lives during the incidence, adding that “it is our prayer that this will not happen again “she said.
Also responding to journalists, the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development Mrs. Zainab Maina said that even in the history of war women were not usually hunt, but recently it has been observed that women have become victims of so many violence.
She said “most of the victims of the Plateau bomb blast are women and children, while we are hoping that children will grow up to become leaders of the nation their lives are being cut off even before they started, many women also lost their lives”.
However she was optimistic that whoever was committing the heinous crime would be surely exposed and face the wrath of God.
Earlier, the Deputy Governor of Plateau State Mr Ignatious Longjan Said that it was a very painful situation that a lot of people have lost their lives at the incidence.
He said “what really caused the high causality was the second explosion, when the first one occurred people moved to the scene to see what happened, it was in the process, after 20- 25 minutes that the second explosion occurred and that was the one that wiped out a lot of people”.
The Deputy Governor thanked the delegation for coming to share in the sorrow with the Plateau state government and the families of the victims.