Igbos from Nigeria’s South-East resident in Jos were the worst hit community when bomb blast rocked the Plateau State capital in the country’s North-Central exactly a week ago, killing at least 118 and injuring many more.

Eze Igbo II of Jos, Prof. Joseph Obilom, disclosed this yesterday at a press conference held in his palace.

“The May 20 bomb blast in Jos killed 36 of our members and 42 others injured. In addition, many others are still unaccounted for while Igbo traders lost goods worth millions of naira,” Obilom stated. He attributed the high Igbo casualty rate to the fact that the bomb was exploded in a commercial area dominated by Igbo traders.

“Our major problem now is the move by the state government to give mass burial to the victims without informing members of the community, especially we the Igbo. It is our tradition not to bury our own outside our homestead,” Prof. Obilom further said.

“Some hospital authorities were very hostile when the community, led by the Chairman of the Igbo Community Association, Chief Jonah Ezekwueme, visited them to identify victims of the blast who were Igbo,” the Eze Igbo added.

He also spoke of the need to compensate victims of the bomb blast and to be fair in doing so. According to him, “In past incidents, Ndigbo were neglected and made to bear the cost of burying and rehabilitating their members alone.

“While recognising the fact that some of the victims were shattered into shreds, which necessitated that some body parts were packed into bags that necessitated the mass burial, we still insist that Ndigbo in Jos should have been consulted to identify their own because it is not our custom to bury our dead outside our traditional homes.

“We, therefore, condemn such act and implore the authorities to allow Ndigbo access to the bodies so that those missing could be accounted for because if we had been allowed inside the mortuary, we would have been able to identify many of our members who were unfortunately caught up in the bomb blast.”

•Photo shows scene of the May 20, 2014 Jos bomb blast.

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