TheCable

Justice Akpan, a 30-year-old single mother who was one of at least 118 people killed in Monday’s bomb blasts in Jos, was a hearty woman who laughed a lot.

According to Sam Rotji, one of her distraught colleagues, the late Akpan had a soft spot for the less-privileged and would go to any length to make them comfortable.

“We were together yesterday,” Rotji told TheCable while reliving her last day at Bethel International Christian Academy, Rayfield, Jos, where she worked.

“We were together when she left the school. She worked at the Accounts Department. We chatted for a while. I even told her something that we both laughed over.

“The security man mistook her for a different staffer named Rita. So I was even telling her about it, and she laughed. She was very cheerful. She always laughed a lot.”

Rotji lamented that had he known, he would have pressed further some 30 minutes before the first blast, when he joked that Akpan should stay back in the school for the regular Tuesday sports session.

“We normally observe our sports day on Tuesday, so she was dressed in her sportswear.

“When she left around 2:30pm, she said she was going to the market. I was even teasing her that since she was dressed in the sports attire, why wouldn’t she wait to take part in sporting activities? But she just laughed and walked away.”

Akpan’s sister, who was originally scheduled to go to the market at 4:30pm, subsequently came to the school to ask after her sister’s whereabouts.

“It was the sister who was meant to go to the market. When the sister said Akpan had not returned home, we tried her number and it was unreachable,” Rotji continued.

“We decided to call her friends, but no one was able to provide relevant information. So we decided to go to the hospitals where the casualties were kept, and we finally identified her corpse at Dingham University Teaching Hospital.”

Not only did the 30-year-old leave behind a young daughter of “about 10 years”, she was the breadwinner of the family, paying her brother’s school fees and funding the upkeep of her mother and other siblings.

“She was full of life. She laughed a lot,” Rotji says again.

“Everybody will miss her laughter and dedication to work. She was in charge of the less-privileged that the school was providing scholarship for.

“Justina Akpan was a lively person, always laughing. In fact, that was the last thing she did when I saw her yesterday. She was very dedicated. She kept records accurately. We will miss her laugher, friendship and commitment to duty.”

At least 118 people have been killed in the twin blasts, which occurred 35 minutes apart on Monday afternoon around the ever-busy Jos terminus Market.