Man loses wife, daughter, sister-in-law in Jos bomb blast

Tuesday May 20, 2014 was a day the Ishe family of Jos, the Plateau State capital would want to wish away. It was the day the family was almost wiped out. When Mr. Chris Ishe, a teacher at Kent Academy, Miango, Plateau State, said goodbye to his wife and four children, he didn’t have the premonition that it would be the last time he would see his five-month-old daughter, wife and sister-in-law alive. “The corpse of my five-month-old daughter was burnt beyond recognition. I can’t believe my baby is gone. She was my favourite child, whenever I entered the house, she would start screaming. Sometimes, she would not sleep till I got home from work.
I still can’t believe she is gone. I don’t know if I can bear her loss, coupled with that of my wife. Sometimes, I think I’m dreaming. My wife was my backbone and best friend. We were married for 16 years. Their deaths have left a void in my life.” Ishe told Source that if he had the slightest thought that he would lose his wife, Wiye, daughter and sister-in-law, Miss Christiana Sunday, all in one day, he would have done everything possible to stop them from leaving their home at Bassa Local Government, Miango. He said, “That morning, we all woke up quite early to have morning devotion. My wife then said she was going to visit an uncle at the old Jos Teaching Hospital. At around 8am, I said goodbye to my family and headed for the office. Later that day, at round 5pm, I got a call informing me about the bomb blasts in Jos. The first thought that crossed my mind was ‘my wife is in Jos.’ Immediately, I started dialling her number but it didn’t go through, I also tried that of my sister-in-law, but it didn’t go through too.” Ishe said he began to panic and couldn’t control his emotion. In tears, he said he kept praying that his family would be safe. On his arrival in Jos from Miango, he headed straight for the mortuary at old Jos Teaching Hospital, and right there he saw the bodies of his wife, daughter and sister-in-law. “When I got to the mortuary, there were many bodies lying on the ground, I couldn’t bear the sight so I ran out and pleaded with someone to help me check if the bodies of my family members were there. The first picture the man that assisted me took was that of my daughter. When he showed me the picture, I broke down into tears. She didn’t look like the daughter I knew. He later showed me the picture of my wife and sister-in-law, I almost lost my mind,” he said. He said leaving the hospital was one of the hardest things he had ever done in his life. What a big loss, R.I.P to the dead..