OVER THE TOP

OVER THE TOP

I had wanted to construct a piece about my ordeal on Saturday evening since Sunday but a lack of internet access on my laptop made it impossible and I didn't want to use my phone due to the magnitude of what I had planned to divulge.
I had to put it on hold again yesterday when I heard at about 11:30am of the bomb blasts and explosions that rocked Nyanya (not sure if it's part of Abuja or Nassarawa). I am certain that the chance that I know someone that knows someone that knew someone that was involved in the disaster is very high. May the souls of the departed rest in peace, may God's justice and judgement visit the evil doers (both active and passive) and may God forgive our sins for all the cells and plasma that have been spilled on our turf.

Back to the little matter that concerns me, I hope to have time and peace to write something about Monday's events on another day. I made my way to Ilorin by road on Saturday at about 10am with the plan to return on a scheduled 4:30pm flight aboard overland airline, one of two airlines that regularly land and take off at the Ilorin international airport. The journey to Ilorin was plagued by bottle necks of traffic jams due to the never ending construction work to expand the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. The Julius Berger end was sluggish but organized while the RCC end was chaotic. The driver of the vehicle I was in somehow decussated to the other side driving against traffic till he reluctantly drove across a bridge back to the right side but this time passing through a road I observed to be the old Lagos road. I had never been through that route before but it paid off as we were able to bypass the traffic to enter Ibadan. The remainder of the journey was unremarkable and I arrived Ilorin with enough time to do my business and head for the airport.

I had never flown into and out of Ilorin before but my wife had on a few occasions. A delayed flight was a realistic possibility from my experience of dropping off and picking up my wife from the airport so I wasn't surprised when a pleasant gentle man named Seun at the Overland counter told me the flight was uncertain and would only be confirmed between 6-6:30pm.
We exchanged phone numbers and I left the airport to join the FA cup semi-final  between arsenal and Wigan at about the 23rd minute of play. I quickly observed that the arsenal were not looking good to thump Wigan and with a few minutes gone in the 2nd half, Mr Seun called him that the flight was confirmed. Back to the airport I went, arriving there before 6:30pm. Soon, all payments were made including a 1000 naira airport tax to the coffers of NAMA and luggage searched and checked in.

At 7pm, the Overland officials could not confirm that our expected plane had taken off from Abuja. A few relatives of individuals from Abuja (including a 10yr old girl who was travelling alone for holiday) had been at the airport all afternoon to receive their people. We asked them the reason for the delay and we got bad weather from the officials which had grounded all take-offs and landings at the Abuja airport. One passenger told me it was probably a result of the grand wedding ceremony of a certain foster daughter in Abuja. I am still unsure of what the truth is. A female voice thereafter announced through the airport's address system that the ETA of our plane was 8:20pm. This really didn't disturb me, it wasn't the longest delay I had experienced at our local airports and it wasn't going to be the latest time I had landed in Lagos on board a local flight.

I once waited till beyond 11pm in February of 2008 for a virgin Nigeria plane from south Africa to take us  from Abuja to Lagos. Aero contractors left us confused and uninformed when a flight from Lagos to Abuja scheduled for about 4pm was no where in sight at about 9pm in early 2010. Passengers on board an earlier scheduled flight were left on the tarmac for close to 2 hours due to some technical faults with the plane they were on. They were eventually brought back to the departure lounge making 2 groups waiting to fly to Abuja. Aero eventually got two planes ready to go and the scenes of passengers scrambling  through the glass doors, across the tarmac to the waiting planes are unimaginable. People sat on any available seat without regard for whether they were in the right plane or not. Some had to alight from one of the planes to dash to the other to find space. Both planes eventually made it less than 5 minutes apart to Abuja but not without experiencing the aero crew hawking water, drinks and snacks to passengers that were not even offered pure water or any apologies for hours. Aero did it again in late July of 2010 causing me to arrive terribly late for my younger brother's engagement in Jos. We arrived Jos after several hours of delay when it was already dark. I also experienced a minimal delay at the kaduna airport in December of 2010 when our Arik flight was held up for several minutes due to the expected arrival of a presidential jet. We spent the time appreciating the several carcasses of Chanchangi planes that littered the airport and when the presidential jet. eventually landed, there appeared to be no dignitary on board. I guessed it had come to drop house keepers and messengers that worked for the vice president. Aero still owe me close to 20,000 naira for a cancelled flight in November of 2011. I travelled to warri taking advantage of an extended public holiday weekend to visit my in-laws. The flight to warri was unremarkable and we looked forward to the return flight. My wife received a text message the evening before our departure notifying us of the cancellation. We called their customer care and the best we got was an advice to travel to Benin and join a flight there. I was alarmed, we could as well have travelled by road all the to Lagos instead. We eventually chose to fly with Arik which cost us even more. I was particularly shocked when I observed that two Aero planes took off from the warri airport while we were waiting. I still have the video clip I shot with my small Nokia phone of  unknown people boarding the 2nd aero plane at a point away from the recognized departure point. Did Aero sacrifice us  for a chartered flight?.

Back to Saturday evening, I spent the waiting time watching my son and my phone for updates on the penalty shoot out in the FA cup. There was a power outage sometime between 7:30 and 7:45pm followed by the airport generator roaring to life in less than 3minutes. Our luggage was moved outside and there were signs and movements in preparation for landing and boarding. At about 7:45pm, the countenance of airport officials and the Overland officials changed. They had suddenly realised that the runway lights did not come on when the generator did. From my seating position, I could observe a plane approaching which i later  realised was our expected transporter. The plane hovered about three times before proceeding to Lagos. Our flight was aborted and the 10 year old ferried to a land unknown.
We were all left perplexed, passengers and relatives. The NAMA officials were no where in sight and we had only overland officials to deal with. The head of the team tried his best to be diplomatic and kept emphasizing on the failure of the runway lights and not the delay of his airline. We soon asked for their plans for us and he kept talking about the runway. Their work computer was soon confiscated by an angry passenger while I tweeted away. We asked for our refund when he called his superiors who told him to relay a 4:30pm flight on Sunday. I asked for my money back and the brother told me the money was no longer there. Those of us who paid that evening in cash promptly told him he was joking. After much hassle and pressing, we got refunded our flight ticket money excluding the airport tax to NAMA at about 9:30pm. A few people threatened legal action against the airline and the mother of the 10yr old vowed to withdraw her daughter from the school in Abuja. I returned to Lagos by road on Sunday morning to meet fallen trees and traffic lights at various spots in surulere. I wonder the quality of metal used to fabricate those traffic lights or was the storm just that great?

The issues and truth surrounding the DANA crash have been interred in the forget area of our brains as Nigerians. Did the events at Abuja on Saturday have a negative seismic effect across the nation? Have the authorities at the Ilorin airport perfected the act of incompetence and gambling with the lives of passengers aboard planes in their zone? Have the powerful elite in Nigeria diverted the security might of our country to protect only themselves with their family members and loyalists? I'm wondering how a group that fights soldiers everyday would not be aware of a mega wedding on Saturday to prove their point, instead they wait for Monday morning to cut short the lives of those who don't have the means to defend themselves.
They have since moved on and joined in the celebration of a 100yr old monarch as if nothing happened. Just the way they moved on when hundreds were burnt to death in port-harcourt scooping petrol from a damaged tanker just before the Dana crash. They didn't even observe a minute silence but did so the Wednesday following the dana crash  because certain government officials were involved.

The issue isn't really with the individuals, it's more to do with the system that has developed. The news about the near disaster in ilorin and any similar tale may never see the light of day and those responsible for such lapses would go on with business as usual, collecting taxes while the airlines would continue to delay, cancel and boil their passengers in their own sweat to save fuel. I have pictures of several passengers and myself waiting at the departure area at MMIA in October 2013. Some were fanning  themselves to deal with the heat while a few of us had just t-shirts or singlets on. I'm not sure if that situation has improved now.

"Se na like this we go dey dey?"


jide akeju
15/04/2014