I went to collect money from customers in the market but woke up in hospital – Abubakar.
Monday, March 16, 2026, is a day that will forever haunt residents of Maiduguri, Borno State, North East of Nigeria. It was a day that suicide bombers brought death and destruction to the city with coordinated attacks in three different locations. Some residents who lost family members, still reeling from the horrendous aftermath of the bombings, recount the dastardly acts and how they have left them scarred for life.
For Halima Bulama, the day broke like any other but ended in a way that changed her life forever, losing her husband to the suicide bombings carried out by Boko Haram. The grieving woman recalls the events of the day to our Correspondent: “It’s a day I will never forget.
About 5:30 pm on that day, my husband left home with the intention of taking food to his sick mother at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, only for me to receive the sad news of his death later. “I was at home when I received a call that I should rush to the hospital. I immediately abandoned what I was doing, thinking that it had to do with the health of my sick mother-in-law.
On getting there, I was taken to the Accident and Emergency Unit, where I saw my husband in a pool of his blood with a blast wound on his leg, head, and cheek. I called his name Baban Sahib, meaning (the father of Sahib), but he could not answer me, as he was unconscious. “I didn’t think that would be the last time I would talk to him, but in less than 30 minutes, he passed away.
This incident has not only made me a widow but has left me with three fatherless children to look after.” A brother of the deceased, Ibrahim Mohammed, in resignation to the divine ordering of the event of that day, simply said: “There is nothing we can do. This is what God had destined that he would die in that way. But he had been a pillar of our family.
On that fateful day, a few hours before the incident, he called me on the telephone and promised to meet at the UMTH to visit our sick mother, but something stopped me from going there before the time of breaking the fast. I would also have been involved in the incident, but as God would have it, I was delayed. I later got to receive the sad news of my brother being a victim of the bomb blast.
As I am speaking to you now, our sick mother is still not aware of the death of my brother Abubakar because we don’t want the news to worsen her condition.” Similarly, a trader at the Monday Market, Abdullah Ibrahim, recalls the horrific incident this way: “We usually break our fast around that time, and we just broke it at exactly 7:05 pm.
Just then, I heard a loud sound which turned out to be a bomb blast. We were confused; I looked immediately to my side, and I saw people in the pool of their own blood, and I saw our goods and trucks scattered everywhere. “We rushed a lot of people to the hospital. Even as I am speaking to you now, my ear is still somehow sore due to the loud sound of the blast.
We lost our goods as the blast burnt some parts of our shop.” Ibrahim said nobody can quantify the amount of good lost or be able to put a figure to it. He added: “Our goods were burnt, scattered all over the place. Some were looted, but thank God I am still alive. I think the government will support us.”
Similarly, another survivor, Ali Musa, said: “I was at the gate when I saw the suicide bombers in a tricycle with a food flask, and I suspected them. I rose up to block them and told them to go back. They went back and came back again through one way. I blocked them again; they came down from the tricycle; one of them was holding a food flask.
He threw the food flask, which contained a bomb. I blocked it with my hand before I knew it. I felt an immediate heat and a loud explosion. I fell down in the pool of my blood. Then the other one detonated the second one, which also brushed my leg; you can see my leg. If I had not blocked them, they would have entered the gate. Aliyu Abubakar, who says he’s a salesman with a company, came to the market for some business on the fateful day but woke up in the hospital.
“I came to the Monday Market to collect the balance of my money from our customers, but before I knew what was happening, I heard a loud voice, and I saw myself at the hospital later. As I am talking to you now, I don’t know where the goods of the company loaded in the bus are; the goods are worth millions of Naira, but I thank God that I am still alive.”
Another victim, Mustapha Muhammad, a cap marketer, recalls: “The incident happened when I was trying to cross the road at the gate of the UMTH when I heard a loud voice and saw myself on the ground. I tried to stand up, but I fell again, then a Good Samaritan came to my side and tied my bleeding leg with my shirt.” Meanwhile, during a sympathy visit to the victims of the blast, the Vice President Senator Kashim Shettima said: “It’s a tragedy because no religion sanctions the killing of innocent people.
But this demented monster called Boko Haram, I don’t even consider them as members of the human race. But rest assured that no matter how long the night is, it must give way to the light of the dawn. “The Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is here with me.
She’s a mother. She’s a housewife; she has abandoned her home to render succour and support.” The Vice President added: “Likewise, the North East Development Commission (NEDC) team is also on board, and of course, the energetic Deputy Governor, who is here on behalf of Governor Babagana Zulum, all with a view to rendering the needed support.
I want to thank the media for your support. Thank you very much. “Let me assure you that NEMA will, by tomorrow (last Thursday), start the distribution of medical consumables and relief items to the victims and their families.” Governor Babagana Zulum, on returning from Saudi Arabia for the lesser Hajj, went to the UMTH and State Specialist Hospital to sympathise with the victims of the multiple blasts.
He promised to take care of their medical bills and support the families of those who lost their lives. Speaking in an interview with newsmen, Governor Zulum said: “I want to commiserate with families of those who died, and pray for quick healing for those who are injured. I believe the worst is over, and Insha Allah, peace must reign in Borno.
The Borno state government is going to support the families of those who lost their lives, and the government is also going to foot the medical bills of those injured. “The current resurgence of the attacks is due to the heat the Boko Haram is facing in the ongoing operations in Sambuza, Mandara Mountains, and the shores of Lake Chad, but we believe the worst is over, and soon peace will be restored in the state and the North East. I want to thank our military and other security agencies, they are doing their best”.
