NIGERIANS were shocked penultimate week when the Nigerian Army flagged off Exercise Clean Sweep to clear out remnants of unexploded bombs at the Ikeja Cantonment, 21 years after some of them exploded, causing a tragedy of monumental proportions. According to the army authorities, the 61-day exercise, which began on October 10, involves the mobilisation of engineers’ plants and other necessary equipment. During the inauguration of the exercise at the Ikeja Cantonment, the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, said that the Army had learnt lessons from the January 28, 2002 tragic incident and resolved not to allow a repeat of such in any of its cantonments. He said: “ Twenty-one years later, the losses we suffered are still fresh in our memories. In the aftermath of the blast, lives were lost, properties were destroyed, blame was apportioned, inquiries were made, and lessons were learnt. The initial clearance operation ensured some degree of safety in the Ikeja Cantonment and its surroundings. However, the recent discovery of some Unexploded Explosive Ordnance at the site of the 2002 blast raised the need for the Nigerian Army to carry out a follow-up clearance exercise in Ikeja Cantonment and its surroundings.”
Nigerians have, of course, not forgotten the fatal incident to which the army chief referred. On January 27, 2002, barely three years since Nigeria returned to civil rule, the country witnessed monumental tragedy as a large stock of explosives accidentally detonated at a storage facility in the Ikeja Cantonment. The fire which subsequently broke out in a street market next to the base spread to its main munitions store. The results were catastrophic: many buildings in the area came down as the explosion caused tremors whose destructive impact was felt more than 50 kilometres away. The tragedy was compounded by the surge of panicky residents of Ikeja and environs who fled their houses in a desperate bid to survive the conflagration: many of them drowned in a canal.
The scenes were chaotic as residents jumped to their death from high-rise buildings in a desperate attempt to cross the busy Ikeja dual carriageway and many others were trampled to death. At least 1,100 people died while over 20,000 were displaced from their homes. Many were grievously injured and scarred for life, and the scene when President Olusegun Obasanjo arrived Ikeja for on-the-spot assessment was heartrending: many of the grieving residents chanted in unison: “Go inside! Go inside!,” urging the president to enter into the still smouldering flames. And although George Emdin, commander of the Ikeja base, expressed the military’s remorse over the incident, saying that efforts had been made in the recent past to try to improve the storage facility, but that the explosion happened before the authorities could do what was needed, an enquiry launched by the Obasanjo government concluded that the Nigerian Army had failed to properly maintain the base, or to decommission it as it was instructed to do in 2001. Against this historical backdrop, it is confounding that unexploded bombs still existed in the cantonment more than two decades later.
To be sure, we are happy that a clearance operation is underway, and we commend the Nigerian Army authorities led by General Lagbaja for the discovery of the unexploded bombs. No doubt, the ongoing operation will save lives and put the minds of not only Lagos residents but Nigerians as a whole at rest. However, there should have been close monitoring after the clearance in 2002. Clearly, the fact that bombs are just being discovered means that people could have died all these years, and that is extremely scary to even think of. We give thanks to Almighty God that there was no fire outbreak in the barracks over the years, or the story could have been different: there could have been a case, as it is said in the country, of “thunder helping out bombs.” We recall that when the bombs exploded years ago, President Obasanjo called for international help and explosive ordnance experts came from the international community and assisted in clearing out the ordnance. It is therefore disturbing that there were still unexploded bombs in the cantonment for so long. There should have been proper stocktaking to ensure that there would be no more danger of any kind.
The foregoing does not, of course, take anything away from the eagle-eyed surveillance that birthed the present discovery. We are deeply appreciative of the discovery effort and all the officers and men behind it. Nonetheless, we urge that things should be thoroughly and painstakingly done this time around, so that any talk of unexploded ordnance in Ikeja or any other cantonment becomes merely historical. That, apparently, is for the good of all Nigerians.
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