The bombed St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla
By Onyebuchi Ezigbo
For waiting behind to receive powder from the ‘Infant Jesus’ at the altar, hundreds of worshipers who attended the ill-fated 6 am Mass were saved from dying from the Christmas Day bomb blast which ravaged St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla near Suleja in Niger State.
At least 43 persons died in the blast, according to the final list released by the church.
The practice of daubing worshippers with powder from infant Jesus is a borrowed tradition from the events that occurred during the birth of Jesus in the old Jewish community.
In the story of the birth of Jesus Christ in the Bible, there was a symbolic paying of homage by all who were around or could trace his birthplace. As people came to see the child Jesus, they were presented gifts.
It was in keeping with this tradition that the Catholic Church usually enjoins its adherents to endeavour to visit the infant Jesus at the altar to receive blessings through the symbolic robbing of powder on their cheeks before they depart after Mass on Christmas Day.
Because they waited behind for the symbolic rubbing of the powder, many worshippers were saved from dying last Sunday.
One of them, a rector with the church, Mr. Francis Ifeanyi Aniezue, said he and his family members were saved by the new-born baby powder, which they waited to collect.
“I was about to leave the church when my wife sent one of our grandchildren to call me back to join them to see the ‘child-Jesus’. As I made my way to the altar, in a matter of seconds, I heard a deafening noise which shook the foundation of the church building. There was a great panic and as I ran out, I saw one of the injured victims beckoning for help moments before he slumped and died,” he said.
He said because many people were still waiting to see the infant Jesus, there was a queue which kept many of the worshipers back inside the church.
“But for that singular diversion, many people would have rushed out to the road and would have been massacred by the bomb blast. It was a miracle of some sought,” he said.
The parish priest of the St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, Reverend Father Isaac Achi, corroborated Aniezue’s story.
Father Achi was still in great shock when THISDAY sought his account of the Christmas Day bomb blast that claimed dozens of his church devotees. 　
The visibly-shaken priest described the blast as an unfortunate carnage.
He said the bomb went off immediately the 6 am Mass ended and worshipers trouped out in their numbers to go home.
“Immediately after the Mass was over and we had our final blessings, people were just filing out of the church before a heavy explosion occurred. We ran out and saw many people lying dead; some were burnt in their vehicles beyond recognition, while many other victims were critically wounded.
“Some victims who were rushed to the hospitals died along the way as they could not withstand the effect of the blast,” he added.
As the priest in charge of the church, Father Achi said he had instructed his assistants to encourage parishioners at the Mass to come forward to perform the symbolic well-wishing for ‘newly-born baby Jesus’ before final dismissal.
Father Achi said: “As they come to greet the child Jesus and collect a souvenir, they were delayed by the queue and the entire process and were thus saved from the bomb blast. So those who were affected were mainly those who did not wait to collect the souvenir. The others who were in church waiting to collect the baby powder were still on the queue when the blast occurred.
“Apart from my church members who were leaving the church premises when the bomb blew off there were also other passers-by and motor-cyclists waiting to pick worshipers home who were caught-up in the explosion.
“So many lives were lost in the bomb blast. The bomb blast incident was so pathetic in many ways. For instance there was a case of two families that lost almost all of its members in the blast. One of them lost all but one member of the family, a young girl in her teens, Nancy Chidinma Francis.
“For the other family, the father and his four children perished, leaving the wife who did not come to church with the rest to tell the gory story”.
Another eyewitness and social worker at the church, Mr. Benjamin Ekwegbalu, narrated what he saw on that fateful day. According to him, the worshipers were moving out of the church oblivious of the looming danger when in a twinkle of an eye, the bomb went-off.
Ekwegbalu said the security men at the entrance of the church were stopping a car to make way for people when suddenly the bomb exploded and raised a lot of dust and a thick cloud of smoke which enveloped the entire area, causing serious panic.
He said: “I heard a big bang and I saw thick black cloud immediately covering the whole place. There was fire burning all over the place and everybody was running helter-skelter.
“There were countless bodies of victims scattered all over the church premises. The bomb blast was so devastating that some victims’ body parts were flung on top of the church roof from where rescue workers had to climb to retrieve them”.