How my wife and I escaped Abuja blast –ex-LG boss

How my wife and I escaped Abuja blast –ex-LG boss

When Mina Tende was fleeing Rivers State in 2002, two things were uppermost in his mind – safety and peace of mind.

He had been elected the Chairman of Ogu/Bolo Local Government Area of Rivers State at the dawn of the current democratic dispensation.

When Tende eventually relocated to Abuja, he seemed to have found the peace he dearly needed and sought for. The tranquillity of the city was so alluring that he decided to stay.

As he made Abuja his new abode, he knew that he needed a source of income that would sustain him and his family. After proper consultation and investigation, he rented a shop at EMAB Plaza – besides the very popular Banex Plaza.

Like many other shop owners within EMAB, Tende opened a phone shop that served the poor and the rich that daily sought to improve on their ability to stay connected in this era of digital mobile communication.

Even though he now commutes with Port Harcourt on a regular basis, Tende has enjoyed the tranquillity of Abuja for several years now. In fact, his wife had also opened a fast food business beside his own shop.

However, only about a month ago, a member of the Assemblies of God Church, Garki, where Tende worships, called him and asked him to be careful. She told him that he saw his wife sweeping his blood. He needed to be careful, the woman warned Tende.

He took the warning to heart and prayed and fasted over it. He also asked some pastors to pray for him. To him, that should be the end of the matter.

However, on Tuesday – the eve of the latest blast that rocked Abuja – Tende had a strange dream. He was being strangled to death.

Tende called his wife. “Pray; your husband had almost died,” he told his wife as he got up from bed. Both of them prayed.

In the morning, they also prayed. After that, Tende decided to fast and pray, as his wife went to shop. At about 3pm on that fateful (Wednesday), Tende’s sister visited and they prayed.

After prayer, Tende and his sister went down to the car. In the car, they also prayed. They went to pick the wife at EMAB Plaza so that they could go and keep an appointment.

As they got to the EMAB, he decided not to drive into the plaza. He saw a parking space opposite the plaza and decided to park there. Before he could get there, another car took the space. That forced him to move a farther away from the front of the plaza.

Instead of going into the plaza, Tende and his sister remained in the car and called the wife to come out and join them. It happened that his wife was eating as she didn’t eat before leaving the house.

Tende said, “As we waited for my wife, there was a blast. I did not know what was happening. Yes, the ground shook but I did not know what was happening. The car was steaming. The air- conditioner was on. It was my sister who shouted, ‘Bomb, bomb. Boko Haram!’ She jumped out of the car, ran up and ran down.

“The next thing we saw was a boy running towards us with blood all over him. We saw human flesh thrown up and down; even towards us. Blood spluttered on my car. It was a gory day but the Lord saved my life and that of my wife. If she had rushed to join us, she could have been consumed. The Lord saved us.”

Tende said he would ever remain grateful to God for saving his life this time again.