Dr Chinelo Megafu: APC supporters mocked Nigerian doctor who was shot inside Abuja-Kaduna train. Now, she’s dead.
She asked for prayers. They spewed bile.
Supporters of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are facing a heavy backlash online after mockingly dismissing the suffering of a dying victim of terrorism.
The victim in question, Dr Chinelo Megafu, tweeted that she was shot by bandits who, Monday night, bombed rail tracks on the Abuja-Kaduna train route and opened fire on passengers.
“I’m on the train. I have been shot. Please pray for me,” she tweeted before apparently succumbing to her wounds.
But some APC supporters reacted to the tweet by insinuating that the doctor was lying to discredit the Muhammadu Buhari government.
Some even mocked her.
Many of them are now deleting their tweets after learning, this morning, that Dr Chinelo Megafu is dead. But other Nigerians, who blame the government for failing to protect lives and property, have condemned the pro-APC tweeters for, according to them, being bereft of human empathy.
Dr Michael Ajidahun, better known as ‘The Bearded Dr Sina’ on Twitter, shared the sad news of Dr Chinelo Megafu’s death.
“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,” he tweeted.
Dr Chinelo Megafu was a dental surgeon who graduated from the University of Port Harcourt in 2016.
She reportedly worked at St. Gerald Hospital in Kaduna but had recently resigned to relocate overseas, a move that has become the norm among Nigeria’s thinning middle class and the youth.
Reports say she was not the only one to have died following the Abuja-Kaduna train terrorist attack.
The train was reportedly transporting 970 persons when the bandits struck. Some of the occupants were also kidnapped, it was gathered.
Nigerian troops were deployed to rescue those who survived and the government has now suspended train services on that route until further notice.
Apparent moves to dismiss Dr Chinelo Megafu’s tragedy online bore semblance to the Nigerian government’s alleged coverup of the Lekki tollgate shooting.
On October 20, 2020, soldiers and the police moved to dislodge peaceful protesters from the Lekki Toll Plaza in Lagos. Demonstrators say protesters were killed at the tollgate, in Mushin and other parts of the state. But the government continues to characterise the claims as “fake news”.
A Lagos government panel set up to investigate the shooting apparently found the authorities guilty. But the state government released a white paper to, according to activists, whitewash the findings of the panel which was set up by the government.
The Nigerian government also continue to stigmatise the anti-police-brutality EndSARS protesters of that year as being responsible for the destruction that followed the Lekki tollgate shooting. The same government has no sensible answer to questions regarding how state-sponsored thugs were to blame, activists say.
