Neglected bomb victim, Joy Musa, swallows rat poison

The life of Joy Musa hangs in a balance after she attempted to kill herself this afternoon.

At about 2pm, she sent her 14-year-old daughter on an errand outside the Oregun, Lagos home where two kind Nigerians sheltered her family.

The 42-year-old mother of two (she used to have six) then swallowed rat poison.

“When I got back into the house, she was vomiting,” her teenage daughter told Newsroom on Monday.

“She couldn’t stop. I shouted and called to the neighbours who came in and saw she had poisoned herself.

“They gave her a lot of palm oil to drink. She vomited still but later stopped. She has been sleeping since.

“We can’t take her to hospital because we don’t have the money. We don’t have any money,” she said.

Watch: Day Joy Musa cried for help, and government failed to listen

Joy Musa lost her husband, four children and her brother in a 2013 attack on Dogo Nahawa in Jos, Plateau State.

She was shot in the leg and still needs N1.2 million for surgery. She also needs money to send her two surviving children to school. The family also needs accommodation. They are being sheltered by a “Good Samaritan” in Oregun, Lagos.

Newsroom reported extensively on Musa last year bringing her case before Sunday Ochoche, coordinator of the Victims Support Fund (VSF).

“I can’t help her,” Ochoche, who manages a VSF with N24 billion to spare told our correspondent.

VSF operates a luxury office at Central Business District in Abuja while the real victims suffer, Kayode Olatunji, president of the Bomb Victims Association of Nigeria (BVAN) told Newsroom.