Ikeja cantonment blasts: On this day in 2002, houses shook, roofs fell, and people died
Miroyi Okonkwor shares her account of the Ikeja cantonment blasts of January 27, 2002, which claimed about 700 lives and displaced about 20,000 people.
Nineteen years ago, on this very date, dad took us out.
We were on our way back home when we saw Mama Alakara packing her akara and putting out the fire.
People were running. We heard a loud sound that almost deafened my ears.
“Maybe armed robbers have come to raid,” my mum said.
Dad wanted to drive down to Ikeja to get fuel but with another sound, he entered our street immediately.
When we got home, we switched the radio on. The sound of the loud explosions was even disturbing the frequency but we heard about the bomb blast at Ikeja Cantonment.
Although our house wasn’t so close to that place but the sound made it feel it was happening on our street.
Houses shook, roofs fell, properties were lost and PEOPLE DIED!
Oke-Afa canal swallowed not less than a thousand people.
JANUARY 27, 2002. I thought it was rapture. See me praying “Our Father” and “Hail Mary!” thinking of the times I disobeyed my parents and teachers and begging God to forgive me so I won’t miss heaven.
It was indeed a BLACK SUNDAY in the city of Lagos.
My Heart goes out to those who lost family and loved ones. May the souls of the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. AMEN.
