Sunday, January 27, 2002 was particularly a gloomy day for
many families in Lagos State. The trouble, which eventually sent many to their
graves prematurely, started around 5pm when there was a sudden explosion, akin
to that of an earthquake. The loud bang shook the entire Lagos City, as if
bombs were detonated behind the windows of each of the residents.
Being an unprecedented occurrence and not knowing what was
actually happening, people, understandably, started running helter-skelter.
Whilst scampering for safety, they heard several other explosions of the same
intensity, and in imagination of many, it was as if another war had started.
The vibration shattered windows, roofs and brought down buildings several
kilometers away.
Unknown to many, the explosion, which sounded for about
seven times and almost ripped the metropolitan city apart, was coming from Ikeja
Military Cantonment.
It was later gathered that some high calibre bombs kept
underground at the military facility were not well stored, which led to the
accidental discharge of the bombs. Another version said there was a fire
outbreak at the Armoured Technical Dump within the facility which later spread
to where the bombs were stored and triggered the deadly explosions.
Within seconds, there was commotion across the city, and as people
were running for their lives, the stampede led to deaths, and by the minute,
the death toll began to rise. Thus, across the city, dead bodies littered the
streets. Out of panic, people jumped into fire, some ran into moving vehicles
and were knocked down while some were burnt to death by the raging fire. While
these situations were incredibly unfortunate, one location that seemed to
record the highest number of deaths was a large canal at Ajao Estate which
links Oke Afa in Isolo. Unfortunately, the canal (filled with water) had been
covered by water hyacinth, and as people ran into the suspected ‘bush’, they
were being drowned in the water.
People stepped on themselves and many more were drowned.
Children, parents and several others were killed, while some families were
completely wiped off.
By the time the last bomb went off and a bit of calmness
returned to the city the following day, over 1,000 persons were found to have
died, several others went missing and have not been found till date, while
several thousands were displaced and thousands were displaced and thousands had
varying degrees of injuries. It was one accident too many.
Following the incident, the Federal Government, under
President Olusegun Obasanjo, and the Lagos State Government promised to
compensate the victims’ families. But owing to delay in fulfilling the
promises, a man who lost two of his children to the incident, Mr. Olaniran
Majekodunmi, brought other affected families together to form a group to compel
the Government to fulfill its promise.
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