Speeches

The Heroes Of Oke Afa
"E pluribus unum" – "Out of many, we are one".
• 10th Anniversary Of The January 27 2002 Bomb Blasts

Jan 27, 2012 - Fellow citizens,

I stand before you today in solemn recollection of that day in January ten years ago, when a tragedy of monumental proportions shattered the peace and tranquillity of our Sunday evening.

At about 5:15pm on that fateful day, triggered by a fire outbreak in the nearby "Mammy market", high calibre bombs stored in the armoury of the Ikeja Cantonment began to detonate one by one.

Loud explosions heard and felt as far away as Lekki Peninsula, Ikorodu and Okokomaiko, rocked the city of Lagos and sent panic-stricken citizens running in all directions.

The powerful blasts killed many of the inhabitants of the cantonment and completely destroyed property within it, as well as on several nearby streets.

The tremors caused by the explosions caused roofs to cave in, windows to shatter and walls to crack and collapse, as far as 15 kilometres away.

Flames lit up the evening sky darkened by the thick black smoke, as the fire quickly spread and debris, including thousands of unexploded shells, scattered farther afield and set off new explosions and fires.

The trauma and uncertainty was palpable as the GSM networks faced their first major challenge when mobile telephone lines jammed under the pressure of so many people seeking for information.

From one end of Lagos to the other, there was confusion. Nobody knew for sure whether it was an external invasion, a military coup or a natural disaster but the ready assumption was that a coup had taken place.

Ironically it was not the fires or the blasts or even the injuries sustained from damaged property that claimed the highest number of casualties.

Running as fast as possible from an unseen threat, a stampede broke out and more than a thousand fleeing men, women and children fell unsuspectingly into this canal - the Oke Afa Canal, concealed by water hyacinth in the early evening dusk.

One after the other they fell into the swampy quicksand and crushed those below them as they themselves were pushed and trampled on by those coming behind.

Some jumped in after others, believing they could cross safely to the other side. In the ensuing pandemonium, a few survived but hundreds – our mothers and wives; husbands and fathers; our sons and daughters and our sisters and brothers, lost their lives.

What started out as another peaceful Sunday had ended up in the worst catastrophe ever to befall us in Lagos.

Amidst all the mayhem and rumours, my predecessor in office, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, at great personal risk and in demonstration of tremendous courage, drove to the Ikeja Cantonment within minutes of the first bomb blast to assess the situation.

To dispel the initial notion that another military takeover was threatening our nascent democracy, Asiwaju quickly appeared on television to allay fears that there had been a coup.

That broadcast made all the difference. Asiwaju's prompt display of leadership at that crucial time of inherent danger was to lead the then Senate President, the late Chuba Okadigbo, to publicly commend him for his timely management of the crisis in the immediate aftermath of the explosions, describing it as a sign of maturity in governance.

When the sun rose the following day, the death toll had risen with it. Over a thousand people were dead and several thousands more were missing.

Families were dislocated and some had lost everything but the clothes on their backs.

People had fled as far away as Alagbado, Ikorodu and Agbara, in their attempts to leave the State.

In some cases, the search for loved ones lasted days. Some searches ended in joyful reunion, some in painful reality and yet others in bleak despair.

The Lagos State Government immediately swung into action and set up a Relief Camp for victims at the Police College, Ikeja. Another camp was set up at Abalti Barracks, Surulere.

The Nigerian Red Cross, under the able leadership of Chief Emmanuel Ijewere, set up camp at the cantonment distributing relief materials and assisting the sick and the displaced.

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 of all walks of life.

One after the other they came - with food, clothes, medicine and money.

Corporate entities came together and sponsored a musical concert tagged "Keep Hope Alive" to raise funds and awareness for the victims.

School children raised money in their various schools and donated items.

Nigerians and foreigners, eminent personalities and ordinary people; Muslims and Christians, corporates and individuals, they all came.

The Governor's office became a temporary warehouse as he received delegation after delegation of sympathisers and well wishers donating relief materials for the victims.

They gave of their resources and they gave of themselves. And in spite of our pain they gave us cause to smile.

I am sure everyone who was in Lagos that day can remember what he or she was doing when the first blast went off. Indeed it became the question each person asked of the other in the days that followed.

What we may not readily remember are the unsung heroes I would like to talk about today.

The heroes of Oke Afa.

Moses Okatahie was on his way to visit his sister in Ejigbo that evening when he saw screaming people drowning.

Without a thought for his personal safety and security he immediately dived into a canal filled with dead rodents, domestic, industrial and human waste.

He was soon joined by ten other men who over the next few hours and days saved lives and retrieved bodies so that their families could bury their dead with dignity.

He and eight others were given immediate employment by the Lagos State Government to work in the Marine Rescue Unit of the Lagos State Ambulance Services (LASAMBUS) and six of them are still in service.

Please join me as I salute John Adedayo Moses, Felix Ndaego, David Ibia, Michael Ibia, Dike Josiah and Moses Okatahie.

They are the heroes of Oke Afa.

The Lagos State Government moved pupils and students from the damaged schools into neighbouring schools and introduced double shifts.

The unsung teachers, led by the Lagos State Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Teachers and now National President, Mr. Michael Alogba Olukoya, gave willingly of their time and expertise and spent over 12 hours in schools each day to ensure that the children's education was not disrupted.

They are the heroes of Oke Afa.

Members of the then Lagos State Executive Council, especially the Commissioner for Special Duties, Chief Mrs. Teju Phillips, the Commissioner for Women Affairs & Poverty Alleviation, Chief Mrs. Kemi Nelson, the Chief of Staff, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, as well as the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Chief of Staff, Mr, Sunny Ajose and his staff, rolled up their sleeves and got down to work.

The present Special Adviser on Education, Otunba Fatai Olukoga was Director for Finance and Administration in the Office of the Chief of Staff at the time and was directly responsible for the camp.

He resumed daily at the Police College ensuring that relief materials were distributed promptly and assisting in reuniting families.

They are the heroes of Oke Afa.

The doctors, nurses and auxiliary staff in all the surrounding hospitals, particularly Isolo and Ikeja General Hospitals, who worked long hours day and night to keep casualties to the barest minimum.

The members of the Lagos State Ambulance Service, headed by Dr. Femi Osayintolu, who handled more than 2524 cases during the period and provided free medical services from the ambulance points for several days thereafter.

Special mention must be made of the then Commissioner for Health, Dr. Leke Pitan and his team in the Ministry of Health, for containing an outbreak of cholera and diarrhoea at the camp, the effect of which would have been devastating.

Dr. Pitan and Dr. Osayintolu also personally conveyed corpses to the mortuaries and supervised their effective storage in facilities barely able to cope with the volume.

They are the heroes of Oke Afa.

The Commandant, officers and families of the Police College Ikeja, where one of the Relief Camps was set up; some of whom opened their homes and shared their utilities with the victims.

The Plank sellers at Isolo, who have unselfishly given up their prime market location and agreed to be relocated so that the canal can be dredged and a ferry terminal built for the benefit of the whole community.

They are the heroes of Oke Afa.

Brigadier-General George Sanyaolu Emdim was the Commandant of the Ikeja Cantonment at that time.

Although he was not administratively responsible for the Armoury, as head of the cantonment in which they were stored, when the disaster happened, Brigadier Emdim did not deflect the responsibility.

Like the soldier trained in the best military tradition that he is, he accepted the blame and offered an immediate and sincere public apology and explanation to Lagosians.

It did not end there. In the days and weeks that followed, whilst the cantonment was being evacuated, Brigadier Emdim stayed within the cantonment, cooperated and worked hand in hand with the relief effort and provided much needed support, logistics, statistics and information.

It is perhaps ironic that he has never been considered worthy of the award of a national honour despite the glowing citations he received.

He is here with us today. Please join me as I salute a hero of Oke Afa.

I could go on and on.

Fellow Nigerians like you and I responded to the distress calls of strangers without counting the cost to themselves. We owe them all a debt of gratitude because they reminded us of who we are.

They reminded us that we are our brothers' keepers.

They reminded us that real caring is the willingness to help one another.

They reminded us that it is not in our character to stand by and see our brothers suffer.

They reminded us that what binds us together is far stronger than what divides us.

And they reminded us that when the chips are down it does not matter what tribe we come from or what faith we profess. Because, "e pluribus unum" – "Out of many, we are one".

The dust on the bomb blasts had hardly settled when on the 3rd of February 2002, communal clashes broke out in Idi-Araba between the Hausa settlers and members of the Oodua People's Congress.

Over 50 houses and property worth millions of naira were destroyed and the casualties and displaced persons further stretched the already overburdened services being provided in the hospitals and in the relief camps.

What started it? A small disagreement over the payment of N5.00 for the use of the public toilet escalated into the chaos that caused the death and dislocation of hundreds of innocent citizens and unquantifiable damage to property.

There is a lesson to be learnt there and in these perilous times we would do well to remember it. For those who forget their past mistakes are bound to repeat them.

And the lesson is that one moment of rash behaviour can assume a colossal magnitude and like a bush fire, spread farther than you ever imagined, consuming all in its path, including you and I.

In conclusion, let me say that grieve we must for our dear departed and we have grieved. But ten years on, we must now finally let go of our grief.

For some of us the memory and the pain may still be new every morning. But we must not let sorrow overcome us and stand in our way.

We must take solace in the fact that there will always be a special place in history for people whose deaths bring about change.

And we must take solace in the fact that our loved ones will never be forgotten.

Construction on the new Ajao – Ejigbo Bridge to pass over the Oke Afa canal has commenced and the Ferry Terminals being constructed at the Oke Afa and Ejigbo ends of the canal will open up water transportation from this axis to the Central Business District of Lagos Island and FESTAC Village and its environs respectively.

I must not forget to salute the untiring efforts of Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan, the Ejigbo Local Government Chairman who was relentless in his push for the construction of the bridge. Your service to the good people of Lagos State will not be in vain.

In the Ikeja Cantonment, we have rebuilt 8 blocks containing 82 classrooms, which have been fully operational since 2010. We have now rebuilt the damaged hospital and funded the provision of equipment there.

Part of the change is the spirit of better cooperation between the military and civilian population that will lead us to the construction of 10 blocks of housing units to accommodate 120 families under the Lagos HOMS Scheme, on a piece of land adjacent to the cantonment.

These monuments will stand as enduring testimonials to the ultimate sacrifice of our loved ones.

We can never regain the lives that were lost, but these monuments will remind us that their deaths were not in vain.

We can never regain the lives that were lost. But the depth of our compassion for one another has put death to shame.

We can never regain the lives that were lost. But the acts of the heroes of Oke Afa rekindled our faith in one another.

And even today, those acts remind us so eloquently that no matter our tribe or faith, we are and will always be, our brothers' keepers.

They remind us that out of many, we are one.

I thank you all for listening.

Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN
Governor of Lagos State