“What shall we say to these things?” was the theme of the charge given Thursday at the funeral of Chinelo Megafu by Reverend Israel Kristilere, Pastor of the Shepherdhill Church, Obanikoro, the venue of the funeral service.
Twenty-nine-year-old Chinelo Megafu lost her life in the terror attack on a Kaduna-bound train from Abuja on March 28, 2022. After she was hit by the terrorists’ bullet, she had reached out via a tweet, requesting prayers on her behalf, the call was met with mean responses and arguments from people that had responded on Twitter.
As the service peaked amid tears and tributes by family members, relatives, as well as colleagues of the deceased, Kristilere referred to Megafu’s death as avoidable, “if we were in a nation where lives and properties are respected, and things are going the way they should go.”
“Like many have said, and I agree,” he continued, “it has never been as bad as this security-wise in our land.”
He expressed sorrow over the lack of arrest since the attack over three weeks ago as of the funeral day.
“Here we gather at this service, conducting her funeral because some bandits decided to attack the train she boarded. What is still paining me today is that, after that attack which will be a month old in the next few days, nobody has been arrested even concerning this very wicked event,” the clergyman said.
Kristilere said he had not seen anything tangible the government had done since then, considering that some others are still in the captivity of “the evil men”. He lamented that trade travelers are not insured against terrorists’ attacks and that some top members of the military just have flowery titles attached to their names without making too much impact against insurgencies as this in the country.
Read also: Train attack: Victims’ families lament neglect by government
“If these were foreign armies ravaging our land, do we really have an army to defend us?” he asked.
“I heard a doctor from Abuja said he never imagined he’d be writing a tribute, he thought he’d be writing a reference letter.”
Ifeanyi Megafu, father of the deceased while talking about his late daughter, trying to hold back tears, explained that he is not a social media person, but had heard of his daughter’s tweet before she passed, and the responses it met.
“At first, it was that of shock, shock that our humanity is so degraded, and some people could be so demented,” he said.
“I had pity on those people, and at this stage, I am saying it again that I have forgiven them all; all of them. I have also forgiven the country that enabled all these to happen.”
“Frankly, the past three weeks have been quite traumatic. I did tell a friend that I spoke on the phone the past three weeks more than I did in three years,” Megafu added.
He said he got calls from all over the world and tried as much as possible to respond to them. He added that of the calls, two were significant, one of which was a call from a serving member of this government.
“He called ostensibly to commiserate, but the next things he says were completely political. I blanked off. I do not play politics, neither did Chinelo,” he said.
In an effort to speak some comfort to the bereaved, Kristilere, pastor and friend to the parents of the deceased said, “I remember he (father of the deceased) told me then that their first daughter (deceased) had gone to Israel four years before that time. Now ruminating over some things, I just discovered that Chinelo had a way of becoming first in many areas. She was the first of Engr. Megafu’s children, she was the first to visit the earthly Jerusalem and sadly, the first in the family to see the heavenly Jerusalem.”
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