There is an outpouring of grief and anger by Nigerians on Twitter over the death of a medical doctor, Chinelo Megafu, who was aboard the ill-fated train.
Ms Megafu had tweeted during the attack that she had been shot in one of the first messages from victims that conveyed the gravity of their situation.
“I’m on the train. I have been shot. Please pray for me,” she had tweeted.
According to a report by Daily Trust, Michael Ajidahun, her colleague and friend, gave an update hours later that she did not survive the attack.
“Just woke up to a sad news My friend just woke up to losing a close friend who was shot at the Abuja Kaduna train incident by terrorists She tweeted yesterday that we should pray for her. Sadly she didn’t make it. She was a Doctor Nigeria why..I’m heartbroken,” said Ajidahun better known as ‘The Bearded Doctor’ on Twitter.
Another friend said Ms Megafu had resigned from a popular hospital in Kaduna where she worked, ahead of her relocation abroad.
According to her, the doctor was bound to leave Nigeria on Friday.
“Dr Chinelo was making an honest living, she was working at St Gerald’s hospital in Kaduna, she wanted more for herself and processed her papers to leave this hell-hole. She resigned last month to leave the country this Friday then this happened. Nigeria why???”she tweeted.
Another user, Emmaculate, whose tweet indicated he knew the late Ms Megafu wrote: “May your gentle soul rest in peace Dr Chinelo. This is too much for me to bear. OmG”
He had earlier tweeted that Ms Megafu was not responding to messages, an indication that he had tried to reach her after she tweeted that she had been shot.
“Seems we aren’t sympathetic enough to a cause. Nobody knows what and where she is right now but the replies here are a little off points. She isn’t responding to msg and see replies. Are we now inconsiderate and human feelings gone. We should be concerned that it may be anyone,” he tweeted.
According to Godspower on Twitter, she was his classmate at the University of Port Harcourt in Rivers State.
“I am pained. We trained together at Uniport and we were in the same study class at some point…
If you can’t run from Nigeria please fly….”
The Nigerian Medical Association, Kaduna branch, confirmed in a statement that Ms Megafu worked at St Gerald’s Hospital.
How Nigerians on Twitter reacted to Chinelo’s last wish
Ms Megafu tweeted at about 09:43 p.m. on Monday when the news about the attacked train surfaced, notifying her followers that she had been shot in the attacked train asking for prayers.
“I’m in the train . I have been shot please pray for me,” she tweeted.
While some Twitter users were empathising with Ms Megafu, most hurled vile comments at her, implying she was lying.ⓘ
“Conserve your battery, text friends and family ur location; apply pressure to the site of the shot using other clothes Strap it on if you can. If possible, elevate the place where you have been shot. Try to drink water if you have access to it and stay calm as you can,” Officiallorenzo advised.
Sugabaddie suggested that she made a thick pad out of any clothing she could find and secure the gun wound using a belt.
“If you or anybody has a belt, make a thick pad from someone’s clothing or shirt and secure the pad to the gunshot wound using the belt. Pull the belt tight enough that the pad is putting heavy pressure onto the wound but not so tight that you feel it’s choking that area,” she wrote.
While the helpful comments were trickling in, there was a pouring of unkind comments.
“Are you dead now?” one Abolore (@ysone2) asked mockingly.
@yinkus772003 wrote, “your shot isn’t serious, otherwise you’ll be asking us to call the army, not pray for you.”Advertisements
@Ishakaa joining others to mock Ms Megafu wrote, “you are shot and you can tweet. Please help us with the picture of your gunshot wounds.”
He went further to ask if she was travelling to Biafra through Kaduna.
@Srereque, added that if she was truly shot at, she would be calling an ambulance or her family.
“And u had time to open ur phone, go to twitter n typed all that info shouldn’t u be contacting police, ambulance or ur people?”
@Kailawalterr in response to Ms Megafu’s tweet insinuated that she was lying about being shot at.
“Let me get this straight, you got shot and the first thing you do is to tweet it? Like what should we do about it? let ‘s be realistic please, you got shot and you still had the time to tweet it? Don’t you have family to call or something? Wetin I no see for this app ”
@Woye1 described Ms Megafu’s cry for help as fake.
“Fake. Shot and tweeting, abeg,” he wrote.
These insensitive comments led to an uproar on the social media platform on Tuesday with many Nigerian users cursing out popular Twitter handles who mocked Ms Megafu as she called for help last night.
While most of them have locked their accounts, restricting access to their pages, others have bowed to pressure apologising for their insensitivity.
“I was reacting to @ishakaa ‘s post as at the time the incident happened. I know about 20 people inside the train that gave me information. I can not celebrate someone’s misfortune. I am sorry for that indiscretion on my part. May her soul rest in perfect peace,” Mr Woye wrote.
Mr Woye on the same thread where his friend Mr Ishakaa was mocking Ms Megafu, typed “hahaha” indicating that he found Ms Megafu’s post funny as did his friend.
Also, @Kailawalter in her apology wrote: “to my previous tweet I made earlier, I realized it was insensitive, I shouldn’t have tweeted that without getting full information of what had happened. I really didn’t mean to be that insensitive… I realised I messed up and did a very wrong thing. I apologise to everyone.”