From Chijioke Agwu, Abakaliki
Weeks after windstorm destroyed a section of Eke Ajah Market in Uburu, the hometown of Governor David Umahi, in Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, claiming no fewer than nine persons, families of victims of the incident have continued to count their losses, pain and anguish.
Some of the affected persons still carry the wounds and scars of their injuries, while the fate of one of them, a 15-year-old girl, Miss Elizabeth Enyi, who sustained spinal cord injury, is in the balance.
On Eke Ajah market day, May 13, 2022, a part the market recently constructed by the Ebonyi State Government caved in during a downpour, killing some traders on the spot, while many others were injured.
It was gathered that three persons died on the spot while another three gave up the ghost on the way to Abakaliki, the capital of the state, for medical treatment.
Daily Sun further learnt that additional three persons, aged between 10 and 18, died while receiving treatment in hospital.
Some of those who sustained injuries were hospitalized even outside the state.
Sources in the town also disclosed that some of the people who died had been buried, while others were still in the mortuary.
Mrs. Margaret Uchenna, 30, from Umuoji Eweze Uburu, was among those who died in the incident. The mother of six had gone to the market that evening to buy food items when tragedy struck.
Her heartbroken husband, Uchenna Ogbonnaya, told our correspondent, who visited the family compound in Uburu, that the death of his beloved wife has ruined his life. He said his late wife was not only very industrious but had been a pillar of support in the family.
Narrating their ordeal, Ogbonnaya said: “That day, she went to the market as usual, and we were expecting her home so that the preparation for dinner would commence.
“Suddenly, we started hearing that one building in the market had fallen and that some people were trapped. I rushed to the market only to find out that my wife was among the victims.”
Another casualty was 12-year-old Miss Faith Ogbonnaya, from Mgbom-Enu in the neighbouring Okposi community, resident in Uburu with her parents.
Her traumatized father, Ogbonnaya Ajah, 46, is a domestic staff to the Chief Judge of the state, Elvis Ngene, who hails from Uburu.
“That day was Friday. She returned from school and said they were asked to return because one of their teachers died. So, she played football with the younger brother and shortly after she slept and, when she woke up, she told me that she wanted to go to Eke Ajah Market to buy something she would use to cook that evening. She asked me for money and I gave her.
“So, I was surprised when some people came to my house that evening on a motorcycle, and told me that I should come to Eke Ajah that my daughter was hit by a collapsed building.
“I joined them to Eke Ajah Market. When I got there, I saw my daughter lying motionless. We took her to the hospital and she was confirmed dead,” he said.
Ajah expressed disappointment that, since his daughter’s death, nobody from government nor the contactor who handled the building project had visited his family.
He said: “They said the contractor is from Uburu here. He is to be blamed for the incident because, how can you build a house and construct the parapets without iron rods. It was only cement without iron rods, and he used rods for the roofing. That was why the building collapsed.
“Now the market has been reopened while the buildings have not been properly rebuilt. Chances are that another building will one day collapse because all of them were built the same way.”
A survivor, Esther Eze, when narrating the incident, said she was in the market selling soup ingredients when the windstorm started.
The 62-year-old woman from Umuchima Enuegu, Uburu, recounted that: “My shed was very close to the building. When the windstorm came, I was struggling to gather my ogbono and egusi together but, before I knew what was happening, the building collapsed on me and cut my toe. It also dislocated my leg.
“I was taken to the New Jerusalem Hospital here in Uburu and later to Okposi for treatment.
“I thank God that I am alive to tell the story but, unfortunately, many were not so lucky, including one pregnant woman who died.”
Also from the same Umuchima Enuegu village, Mrs. Patience Odii, an elder sister to Enyi, the teenage girl whose spinal cord was damaged from the incident, told our correspondent at their family compound that all efforts to raise N6 million needed for the treatment of her sister had failed.
She deplored the manner the leadership of the community as well as representatives of the government had abandoned the family since the incident, which paralysed her younger sister.
“We had finished what we went to buy and were about going home when the roof of the market building collapsed and hit my younger sister. She fell on the ground, we thought she had died but when we got to the hospital, they said she was alive.
“But it broke her spinal cord. We took her to a hospital here in Uburu but they couldn’t handle it. We moved to Enugu and back to Abakaliki. The hospital is asking for N6 million to enable them treat her but we don’t have the money.
“The two coordinators of Development Centres in Uburu have visited us; we told them about the N6 million, but they said they would get back to us. Yet, we have not seen them,” Odii said.
The visibly overwhelmed lady pleaded with Governor Umahi to come to the aid of her family, particularly the young girl whose future might be shattered for no fault of hers.
Our investigation showed that Enyi actually comes from a poor home, having dropped out of Uburu Community Secondary School in JSS2 due to financial constraints.
“The girl in question is from a very poor family; her father is late though the mother is still alive.
“They said she is currently at the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, receiving treatment and waiting for when N6 million meant for the operation could be raised,” a source in the community said.
Daily Sun was told that the Ohaozara West Development Centre coordinator, Mr. Peter Akpa, released N150,000 to the family for examination of the patient in Memphis Hospital, Enugu.
The amount was a far cry from the sum required for the treatment as it could not even take care of the tests and other investigations.