The FG announced a token compensation of N5m for the families of the 10 corpers killled in the recent post-election violence.

It seems to me that the corp members killed in Suleja on the eve of botched NASS elections of April 9 2011 have been fogotten so soon.

When the news of the death of these corps members filtered around the country, there was grief all around and the INEC chairman amongst others acknowledged the sacrifice of the corpers.

Now that the Bauchi 10 are being honoured, shouldn't the Suleja corpers be similarly honoured?

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NASS election eve bomb blast kills 25 in Suleja
By Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa, Niyi Odebode and Emeka Ezekiel, Abuja
Friday, 8 Apr 2011



No fewer than 25 persons, mostly National Youth Service Corps members, were feared dead and several others seriously injured after a bomb explosion rocked Suleja Local Government Area, Niger State, on Friday.



The event created panic in the entire state ahead of today’s rescheduled National Assembly election.



The incident occurred at the Suleja office of the Independent National Electoral Commission at about 5.30 pm.



Bombs had exploded on March 3, 2011 at a rally organised by the Peoples Democratic Party at the Government Secondary School, Suleja, killing several people and injuring many others.



A bomb scare had also rattled another PDP rally at Sarkin Pawa, Suleja LGA as people abandoned Governor Babangida Aliyu’s event and ran to safety.



SATURDAY PUNCH gathered that the INEC office located at Kumba area of Suleja, where Friday’s blast occurred, was a beehive of activities as officials of the commission and ad hoc employees consisting mainly of youth corps members were getting ready for today’s election.



The corps members were reportedly checking a list containing their areas of assignment when the explosion happened.



A source told our correspondent that there was a loud blast, which threw some people up and created a thick ball of smoke.



The source, who identified himself as Mallam Bisala Baba-Sule, said, “When the bomb exploded, most of the victims were dismembered and their bodies littered the office complex. I saw people with their hands cut off and their bodies charred.”



It was gathered that most of the corps members, who were caught unawares by the explosion, were not killed instantly by the blast.



They were said to have died after much groaning and writhing in pains because they could not get urgent medical assistance from onlookers, who reportedly maintained a reasonable distance from the scene of the incident.



The police reportedly fled the scene to join others, who were not ready to move close to render assistance.



Our correspondent gathered that those who escaped the blast were panic-stricken and could not immediately go back to the scene of the incident to assist the victims.



Those residing close to the INEC office and others doing business in the area were said to have fled to safety, abandoning their homes and shops.



It was gathered that the injured victims were later taken to the Suleja General Hospital and other private hospitals in the town for treatment.



The source said he saw bodies of both the dead and the injured litter the premises of the Suleja General Hospital with a few medical personnel on hand to attend to them.



It was gathered that many residents of Minna, the state capital, had become apprehensive of the security situation in the state.



Many people were seen in clusters folding their hands and discussing the incident.



It was learnt that the state headquarters of INEC at David Mark Road was immediately deserted as workers and other corps members abandoned their duty posts and fled for the fear of another explosion.



The incident was said to have rendered the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Emmanuel Onucheyo, speechless.



Onucheyo, however, was not disposed to speaking to our correspondent as he refused to answer calls to his cell-phone.



But the governor of the state, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, condemned the incident, saying it was unfortunate that people had resorted to violence instead of playing the political game by the rules.



Aliyu, who spoke through his Director-General, Media and Publicity, Alhaji Abdulkadir Baba, offered to offset the bills of the victims in the hospitals.



He, however, called on the people not to be discouraged by the blast, asking them to come out en masse to cast their votes today.



Inhis initial reaction, Mr. Kayode Idowu, the spokesman of INEC chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, said, “We have received news of a blast in one of our offices. We’re in touch with security agencies trying to get the details of what happened.”



The spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency, Mr. Yishau Shaibu, said, “Some people were seriously injured. The situation is horrific. Because of the high number of casualties, the NEMA Director-General has ordered that those who can’t be treated in Suleja be transfered to Abuja hospitals.”




http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20110408232246

Okay, I found a report that says that the were injured or died in the Suleja blast were insured.

The story also says that those who died were ex-corpers not serving corpers.

I close my case.

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Suleja Bomb Blast: NYSC Lists Corps Members For Insurance
.Thursday, 14 April 2011 04:17 Abu Nmodu, Minna

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has said that it has compiled the names of the eight serving corps members who were affected in last week’s Suleja bomb blast at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office for payment of insurance indemnity by the electoral body.

Also to benefit from the indemnity were two ex-corps members who lost their lives in the bomb explosion that led to the cancellation of Saturday National Assembly elections in Suleja Local Government Area of Niger State.

NYSC Coordinator in Niger State, Mr. Dauda Daniel Dauda, who disclosed this to journalists yesterday in Minna said that the names of the two deceased ex-corps members and the eight injured serving corps members had been forwarded to INEC for the payment.

The move, according to the coordinator, was in conformity with the position of the chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, who said at the weekend that all the victims of bomb blast of Suleja and Maiduguri would benefit from the insurance policy the commission had put in place for it staff, including the ad hoc staff recruited for the ongoing general elections.

Dauda explained that the interests of the late ex-corps members would be protected.

“We are not going to distance ex-corps members that were affected in the ongoing negotiations of insurance cover to be compensated.”

The state coordinator NYSC insisted that though there were injured corps members but none of the thirteen persons that lost their lives in the explosion were serving corps members.

Dauda described those behind the last Friday’s bomb blast as enemies of democracy who were bent on disrupting the ongoing democratic process, while maintaining that the incident was not necessarily targeted at corps members.





http://www.leadershipnigeria.com/ns/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=28954:suleja-bomb-blast-nysc-lists-corps-members-for-insurance-&catid=16:headline-news&Itemid=143