Jos bomb blast: Plateau, Igbo leaders at war over corpses

The Plateau State Government and the leaders of the Igbo community are engaged in a war of words over the alleged secret burial of victims of the recent bomb blasts in Jos.
The Igbo community in Plateau State, through its leader, the Eze-Igbo of Jos, Prof. Jerome Obilom, had a a press conference accused the state government of secretly burying some of the bomb blasts victims, especially members of the Igbo community, without informing them.
According to Obilom, it is the tradition of the Ndigbo not to bury their dead outside their homestead.
The development however seems to have created another chapter of mistrust between the state government and the Igbo community.
Consequently, the Commissioner of Information and Communication in Plateau State, Olivia Dazyem, debunked the position of the Ndigbo that there was more to the burial of the corpses.
Dazyem said the exercise was carried out to ensure the safety of the people.
In a statement, she said people had started fleeing from hospitals because of the stench that was coming out of the mortuaries.
She added: “More so, government had earlier mounted a spirited publicity on radio and television appealing to members of the public to come and identify their loved ones who were victims of the bomb blast.
“At this moment, some corpses at the Jos University Teaching Hospital are yet to be identified and it is important for people whose relations are still missing to come out and do so.”
Dazyem also refuted the allegations that Igbo have been neglected in the provision of relief materials for victims of the bomb explosions.
She said it had become necessary to appeal to ethnic, religious and other groups to cooperate with and show more understanding as government was doing its best to ensure that the state overcomes the effects of the tragedy.
Dazyem expressed sympathy with the families that lost their loved ones and property in the incidents.
She emphasized that since the unfortunate incident, the government has been very concerned about the welfare of victims’ families and the injured.
She said that was why it took over payments of the hospital bills of those concerned.
The commissioner explained: “Government wishes to male it clear that, as acknowledged by the Eze-Igbo, it decided on the mass burial because the mutilated body parts had decomposed, posing health hazards to the neighborhood.”