Ikeja bombs disaster: Let FG learn from Fashola
Headlines, Lagos, State News Sunday, February 9th, 2014By Mohammed Idris
On Monday, January 27, 2014, while watching the Channels prime news at 10pm on the 12th anniversary of the Ikeja Cantonment disaster when high caliber bombs went off from the armory following a fire at the nearby mammy market and killed some 1000 compatriots, I was at once filled with disgust and pleasure. I was disgusted because a whole 12 years after this costly but easily avoidable accident, the Federal Government has yet to rehabilitate some of the buildings damaged in the cantonment. I was at the same time filled with pleasure because the Lagos State government has gone far beyond the call of duty to demonstrate authentic and profound solidarity with both the people and the military establishment in the state.
To mark the 12th anniversary of this tragedy, Governor Babatunde Fashola commissioned two bridges linking the Ejigbo community and Ajao Road. The 2002 calamity occurred at the Oke Afa canal close to the two new bridges; the government decided on two bridges, instead of one, in order to save several houses belonging to the poor and working class people in the area. Earlier on January 27, 2012, on the 10th anniversary, the governor presented cheques for N250,000 each to 70 families who were victims of the disaster, with a promise for prompt payment if more victims could be identified. Fashola also commissioned 10 blocks housing 120 families in the barracks, in addition to rebuilding and equipping a hospital in the cantonment. A school in the place used mostly by children of officers and soldiers was also rebuilt.
To state the obvious, the responsibility of managing bombs is squarely that of the Federal Government. The Lagos State Government was not legally bound to assume responsibility for either the upkeep of the victims or the reconstruction of damaged facilities in the Ikeja Cantonment. It intervened simply because it believed, rightly, that it owes a grave responsibility to all the people in Lagos, irrespective of their language, religion and social status. So, why has the Federal Government, which runs the military facility, so far shirked its responsibility? Admittedly, General Olusegun Obasanjo, then Nigerias president, visited the military facility in the morning after the blasts. But he committed a faux pas. Responding to a victim, an angry Obasanjo thundered: I am not supposed to be here!. He went on to rebuke the poor person harshly. Good a thing the prideful president recanted the statement with an apology. As for why Abuja has over the years done little to ameliorate the suffering of victims or rebuilt the damaged facilities or compensate victim families at a time the Lagos State government has admirably gone out of its way to grapple with challenges arising out of the tragedy, your guess is as good as mine.
The great gestures by the state government have caused me to search for facts and documents about the governments efforts, and I am glad to be blessed by Gov Fasholas moving speech on the 10th anniversary of the disaster. Unveiling the Oke Afa memorial Wall where names of all victims were written and read out, the governor delivered a speech, poetic in its intensity and impact, which describes in detail events surrounding the Sunday, January 27, 2002, tragedy, calling it the biggest calamity to befall Lagos. This memorable speech, uncharacteristic of many a Nigerian public officer, remembers the gallant efforts of everyday people. He cites the heroism of one Moses Okatahie who was visiting the sister at Ejigbo, but abandoned it to rescue several people dying in the canal who had fled to it in panic caused by the heavy bomb explosions. Inspired by the Moses example, 10 other people entered the dangerous and very smelly canal without caring for their personal safety and without expecting any material benefits. The state government promptly offered these heroes full employment.
Remembering the prominent roles of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, lab technologist and others in minimizing the casualties, Fashola commended the chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in the state, Michael Olukoye who is now the national president of this body, for mobilizing his members to run two shifts on account of schools affected by the blasts. He recalled plank sellers easily agreed to give up their market in a prime location so as to facilitate the construction of ferry terminal to open up water transportation from the Afa Canal to the Central Business District and FESTAC Town and the environs. In the speech whose theme was E pluribus Unum, or Out of Many, We are One, the governor recalled that the then Commissioner for Health, Dr Leke Pitan, and the Director of Ambulance services, Femi Osanyitolu, personally drove corpses to mortuaries, among other heroic services. Commissioners like Kemi Nelson and Teju Phillips were exemplary, just like Alhaji Lai Mohammed, then the chief of staff in the governors office. He also praised the commander of the Ikeja Cantonment, Brigadier George Emdi, and the commandant of the Police College for rising to the occasion. Of course, he did not forget the inspiring leadership provided by his predecessor, Bola Tinubu, who drove straight to the cantonment when most people thought a military coup was on, and quickly went on air to brief the nation on what was happening. The then Senate President, the late Dr Chuba Okadigbo, spoke highly of the tremendous leadership quality which Tinubu displayed on this occasion.
It was one somber period when, according to the governor, we were united in our grief, and in no way was this more apparent than in the spontaneous outpouring of love and show of brotherhood from people from all walks of life. One by one, they came with foodstuffs, medicines and money. He recalled the musical concert by corporate oragnisations tagged keep Hope Alive, to raise funds and awareness for the victims.
Ironically, this powerful sense of solidarity forged in the wake of the Ikeja bomb blasts was to be adversely affected on February 3, 2002, when a sectional fight erupted, bringing all our primordial and divisive sentiments to the fore once again. Communal clashes between the settler Hausa community in Idi Araba and members of the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) resulted in the destruction of some 50 houses and loss of precious lives. The cause was a trifle: a disagreement over the payment of a mere five naira for the use of public sanitary facilities. In the words of Fashola, one moment of rash behavior can assume a colossal magnitude and, like a bushfire, spread faster than you ever imagined, consuming all in its way, including you and me.
The Lagos State government under the leadership of Mr Fashola has, through the matchless handling of the January 27, 2002, Ikeja bomb blasts, given the Federal Government and, indeed, all Nigerians food for thought. Fashola has, once again, lived up to his reputation as a trailblazer.
Idris, a retired military officer, lives in Abuja.
-Sun
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