Family loses father, 4 kids in Jos attack, dumped by Nigerian government
“Around 11pm on that Saturday night, we were home when we started hearing gunshots and explosions. We had to flee the house. My husband was with four of our children. He carried one on his back, and another one by hand while the other two followed him as we rushed out of the house. I was with our other two children.
“We tried running away but could not as bullets flew in every direction. We saw as people falling after getting hit. I lay down and told the children with me to do the same. My husband saw what he thought was an escape route but as he ran towards it with four of our children, I heard a loud bang. Smoke filled everywhere.
“I was still trying to deny what just happened to my husband and our four children when a bullet struck my leg. I bled for 30 minutes before Nigerian soldiers found me. My two children who were with me witnessed everything. One of them, our son Miracle, was five at that time. My baby girl, Gift, was eight.”
“The attackers killed my husband, my brother who was a final year university student, and four of my children – two boy and two girls.”
Before tragedy struck
Joy and Moses Musa had everything anyone would wish for: a house in Jos, six adorable children, four of them twins; and booming businesses to support their ideal existence.
Joy would travel to Cotonou, Benin Republic, buy clothes, bags, foot wears and several other kinds of body accessories to sell back home in Jos, Plateau State of Nigeria. Her husband supplied agricultural products to Hausa businessmen in Lagos. He had an unbeatable connection with farmers in Nigeria’s middle-belt and the north. They trusted him to get their produce across to eager Mile 12 traders.
Life was good until “Muslim Hausa-Fulani herders” struck Dogo-Nahawa, Jos, and the Nigerian government trashed the family’s survivors like the rubble after the rain. The March 6-7, 2010 attack, which some say was carried out by Boko Haram, handed the Musas a downward spiral from which they’re yet to recover.
Abandoned by those paid to care
“The Army took us to a hospital at Vom. The government promised to take care of us. They said they gave the money to one professor whom till today I don’t know. Nobody gave us one naira. Nobody bought common paracetamol for us.”
After six years of traumatic suffering, Joy, now 38, looks 15 years older. She narrated her ordeal to NewsroomNG when our correspondent visited her at 35, Alhaji Muili Street, Oregun, Ikeja, Lagos — the home of a good Nigerian with whom she “squats” alongside her surviving son and daughter.
“As at the time of the attack, I had N480,000 in savings. My husband had N2.1 million in his account. Since the government would not help us, I had to withdraw everything to treat my leg and to put my children in school. My family relocated us to our village in Idah local government, Kogi State. We spent a lot of money at the general hospital there but they couldn’t solve my problem.”
“My leg was smelling. Doctors said the bones were rotten. I was confined to a wheelchair. My 23-year-old brother, Samuel Audu, brought me to Lagos. His boss lived at Okokomaiko and allowed us stay with his family.”
Glimpse of hope
Joy was referred to the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos where doctors said, to save her life, the leg must be chopped off.
“But I continued to believe my leg would be cured.”
And her hope was rewarded.
“By this time, we had no money left and my brother was practically killing himself trying to save us. We were at Igbobi one day when a man named Biodun saw me. It was a miracle. He came to us and wanted to know about my plight.”
After Joy and her brother told Biodun everything, the man promised to help. Unlike the Nigerian government, Biodun (without blowing any trumpet), fulfilled his promise.
“He gave us money for our upkeep. He took me to Sacred Heart Hospital at Lantoro in Abeokuta, Ogun State. But the doctors there referred us to Diasyland Orthopaedic and Trauma Hospital in Jos where I underwent my first surgery in 2015. It cost about N2 million and Biodun paid for everything. I don’t think I’d be able to thank him enough.
“Someone else paid N1.6 million for my second surgery at the same hospital. I no longer use a wheelchair now. I use crutches. With a third surgery, doctors said I should walk again. The operation will cost N1.2 million but I don’t have the money.”
A sick, broke mother and her suffering children
“I don’t have money for accommodation. We are still living with my brother’s boss. They relocated from Okokomaiko to Oregun and took us with them. If not for the family, we would be sleeping in the streets.
“My children are out of school. I fear for their future. A school around here charges N25,000 per session. We don’t have money. We don’t even have money to put them in a public school. To eat is even hard.
“I’m from Kogi State. If my governor helps with the surgery and I’m able to walk again, I will work hard to fund my children’s education. They are my only hope. I want all Nigerians to help us.
“My son Miracle (now 13) was five when the attack happened. He saw how his father and four siblings were blown to pieces. Years after the attack, Miracle would wake up in the middle of the night and be crying. He would say he wanted to die and would kill himself. We’re still praying for him to recover.
“I feel pity, and respect, for my 13-year-old daughter Gift. She is strong. I have not been able have full water baths all these years. She’s the one who mops my body with wet towel. She helps me with domestic things I can’t be telling the world. She should be in school but I can’t afford it. I can’t walk without crutches. I can’t work till I can.”
President of the Bomb Victims Association of Nigeria (BVAN), Kayode Olatunji, brought Joy’s case to our attention.
“I expect the Victims Support Fund (VSF) to take care of her but they are not forthcoming,” he told our correspondent.
We reached out to VSF chairman Prof Sunday Ochoche. He told us the role of the body has been misunderstood by Nigerian bomb victims.
“It is not true that we’re the ones in charge of Nigerian bomb victims,” Ochoche said.
“We have given funds to some hospitals. These hospitals access individual cases based on the capacity they have. We have given funds to the University Teaching Hospital as well as the specialist hospital in Jos.
“Unfortunately the leadership of BVAN is refusing to make victims understand that we have given funds to 16 hospitals in this country. BVAN should not refer people to us. They should direct them to these hospitals. So many people have benefited from this across the country.
“Joy should present her case to any of the designated hospitals in Jos and they will treat her free of charge. None of the hospitals are in Lagos. They are located in the northeast, Plateau State, and in Abuja.
“Given limited resources, this is the little we are able to do. I have reminded BVAN that we have not the government.
“We are an agency that is supporting government effort in the little way we can,” Ochoche said.
However, according to information on VSF website, the body was inaugurated to do more than make money available for treatment of bomb victims.
Set up to do more
Here’s what former president Goodluck Jonathan said while inaugurating the fund in Abuja Wednessday July 16, 2014:
“The Victim Support Fund Committee is part of our on-going efforts to provide a comprehensive solution to the menace. This Government is determined to resolve this crisis. The Victims Support Fund Committee will help to mobilise collective efforts and resources in support for the victims. I appeal to all well-meaning Nigerians and non-Nigerians, individuals and cooperate bodies, to give generously to this Fund. The victims need our sympathy and empathy. We have to show that we care and can never give way or give in to agents of evil.”
The VSF committee comprises of an 18-man team. None of the members is a direct victim of terrorism attack. Olatunji, himself a Boko Haram victim, said he’s surprised by this fact.
He asked our correspondent: “How can they know our plight when they don’t know what we go through?”
“Bomb victims need something more than medical treatment. They need their lives back and that was why former President Goodluck Jonathan said he inaugurated the fund.
“We want to be part of the victims support fund in order to gain access to funding so that we can take care of helpless, voiceless and of our members who are beleaguered and dying needlessly of cases which when attended can save their lives.
“At least N58 billion was donated to VSF in 2014. The money came from well-meaning Nigerians yet bomb victims languish in poverty,” he said.
Meanwhile, Joy Musa needs your help. She said she doesn’t even have the money to travel to Jos. Here’s how to donate to Joy and her children:
Account Number: 0047853282
Account Name: Nwankwo Musa Joy
Union Bank
