24-year after top military officers died in plane crash

…no monument, no memories to remember victims

·       Fasehun faults suffocation theory

Bushes and swamps surround the area.  A block making industry, with busy, scantily clad bodies of block makers, cracking jokes, were other sights easily noticed.

Besides the block making shack, was a shop, managed by a husband and wife. The wife sells shoes, while the husband occupation is aluminium fabrication. Standing by the side of the aluminium shop, is a magnificent building, begging people to come and rent. The rest are bushes, muddy, pothole riddled road, blocks and uncompleted buildings.

All these, are what have taken over the crash site of the Nigerian Air Force transport plane, Hercules C-130. The plane crashed into a swamp in Ejigbo, a suburb of Lagos State, southwest Nigeria, in 1992.

The crash, which occurred on a Saturday, September 26, 1992, sent shock waves down the spines of Nigerians.

The tragic crash left over 200 military officers dead. Indeed, all the passengers, including pilot died. When head counts of corpses were taken, rescuers counted 173, leaving 27 missing. When the crash happened, controversy surrounded the numbers of occupants. Some people claimed that 166 military officers were onboard. Many of them were in the ranks of Army Major, Lieutenant Commanders in the Navy and Squadron leaders in the Air force.

The military officers, described as some of most brilliants minds in Nigeria, left some many women widows and children fatherless. The day would later be described as a Black Saturday.

Brigadier-General Tanko Gaiya, in 2012, said the victims were students of the Senior Course 15. He described them as fallen heroes. He listed them to include 104 senior army officers, 17 naval officers, 17 Air force officers, eight foreign officers, 11 Nigerian Air force crew and nine others.

Gaiya said the victims had been immortalised with a modern cenotaph constructed at the Senior Course Students’ Hostel.

September, 26, 2016, makes it exactly 24 years that the plane crashed. It’s also quite saddening however, that many Nigerians have forgotten the dead officers. It’s however clear, that their memories linger in the minds and hearts of their beloved ones.

There’s nothing at the site, to show that some of the best of Nigerian military officers died there. There’s no signboard, no monument, nothing!

Even those working around the scene, didn’t know a plane once crashed there. It took the correspondent, almost four hours to locate the obviously forgotten site.

But an Engineer, who refused to give his name, managing a building project of a client, said he was standing right at the scene. He said Nigerian Government, doesn’t ever value its personnel and appeared not to give a hoot about anyone.

His words: “Yes, this is what remains of the military crash site of 1992. I’m standing right at the spot. Land grabbers (Omonile), have sold all the lands around here. Most of the buyers are Igbos and people from Edo State. Even now, there is a lot of struggling for possession of these lands going on. The land grabbers (Omonile), used to sell a single plot of land to two people, creating trouble and confusion. Igbos are now fighting among themselves and Edo indigenes are fighting among themselves. Land grabbers can’t be trusted.”

 On the fateful day of their death, the military men left Jaji, Kaduna State, on-board Hercules C-130, heading to Lagos. The plane was said to have one of the best crew members.

Before the crew took off, it was gathered that the plane had fault on Friday, but quickly fixed for Saturday flight to Lagos. The plane, with four engines, lifted up on Saturday.

Barely minutes after taking off from Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, three engines suddenly failed.

The fourth engine was further alleged to have failed as the pilot struggled to land. The pilot lost the battle; the Hercules C-130, landed into the swamp, between Ejigbo, Jakande and Okota at about 4:30pm.

Many of the officers died before help came and those, who were brought out breathing, also later died. They were said to have died of suffocation. Many of them had removed their clothes, apparently due to heat, before succumbing to the unyielding hands of death.

It was said that it took the military rescue team almost 48 hours to respond and get to the crash site. The officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), who got there first, were alleged to have reached there 24 hours after the crash.

The rescue team relied on machetes and axes until Julius Berger Construction Company, went to the scene to assist. The corpses retrieved were buried on October 5, 1992. No panel of inquiry was set up to probe the incident.

The popular Century Hotel, belonging to the founder of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Dr. Frederick Fasehun, is not too far from the scene of the crash. In fact, a N100 commercial motorbike is all that was needed.

Fasehun said he collected the day like it was yesterday. He said he had just returned from a trip to Britain, when he heard the shattering news.

He described the dead officers as some of Nigeria, ‘finest.’ He also described as saddening, the marked absence of any monument at the site of the crash, to remember the victims.

Expressing his opinion, Fasehun alleged that the men were murdered. He said it was unheard of, for a Hercules plane to crash in any part of the world. He said that since the incident in 1992, no other Hercules plane has crashed.

He said: “It was a sad situation back then. People pointed fingers at the then military head of state. Many people perished. Most of them top military officers. When it happened, the area was a jungle. Till date, no monument or memorial was created. It was a holocaust. It was a big loss to Nigeria. Most of them were well trained military personnel. In a civilize country, a fantastic monument would have been built at the site. But here, nothing is there to remind Nigerians of the dead officers.”

Fasehun continued his recollection: “I just arrived from Britain that night. I was told the crash happened a few minutes. I don’t think any investigation was carried out. But no report of any investigation was given.”

Fasehun said that a high powered investigation should have been conducted on the plane, to determine cause of crash. He said that it was sad that proper investigation was not part of the pastime in Nigeria.

He added: “Whoever dies in Nigeria dies for himself or herself. Nobody ever investigates the cause of death. When government is guilty, they pay off the vocal ones. They bemoaned their losses and move on.”

He noted that the wives and children of the late military officers, were still alive, but nobody ever asks them how they are coping with life.

Fasehun, who is a medical doctor, said he didn’t believe the theory of suffocation.

He asked:  “When did the crash happen and when did Julius Berger got there? How can all of them die of suffocation? Even those that were brought out alive later died. They said they died of suffocation, but suffocation medically, shouldn’t be immediate. The suffocation theory is doubtful.  Since that fateful crash, how many Hercules planes have crashed?  Hercules planes are among the strongest machines ever devised by man. Hercules planes are known for lifting planes and soldiers, to safety.”