Late Sunday evening on January 27, 2002, an explosion that shook the pillars of Lagos like a high magnitude earthquake occurred and sent the residents of the sprawling metropolis into uncontrollable chaos. Buildings from miles away were destroyed while the tremor was felt across the city.

The explosion which occurred around 6pm after an armoury containing “high calibre bombs” went up in flames at the Ikeja military cantonment, wreaked havoc in areas close to the cantonment and it was as if another war had begun as the bomb detonated for seven consecutive times.

Unaware of what was actually happening, thousands of residents of the neighbourhood, who panicked, started running helter-skelter in different directions to escape the blasts which lasted more than three hours.

As they scampered for safety, they heard several other explosions, and there was an unimaginable commotion across the city. Many people were squashed dead in the stampede, while many others trying to cross the Ajao Estate-Oke Afa link in Isolo drowned in a swampy canal that was covered with hyacinth leaves. In 1992, more than 150 military personnel perished in a nearby canal in Ejigbo when their plane crashed shortly after taking off from the Lagos airport.

The January 27, 2002 blasts led to the death of about 700 people in the area, and a memorial stands at the place where most of the victims were buried. Many families were devastated as some of them lost multiple loved ones. Reports say more than 500 people including children and women were missing. Some families were completely wiped out.

Official records put the number of deaths as of January 30, 2002 at around 700, but other sources claim that at least 1,000 people lost their lives due to the blast. About 20,000 people were reportedly displaced in the most affected areas.

19 years after that tragic incident, many Nigerians are paying tribute to the victims, while some survivors give gratitude for the gift of life.

“I was 7 when the Ikeja cantonment bomb blast happened. Thank God for life. And may the dearly departed souls continue to rest in peace,” another tweeted.

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Faulting the government on their response to the incident, one Twitter user said that the event showed how terrible Nigeria was with crisis management.

Recounting his experience and how he lost two of his children in the explosion, one Majekodunmi told Nigerian newspaper The Punch that the blood of the victims was on the government.

“Whether they like it or not, the government killed those people, because we learnt it was avoidable, and more importantly, the explosion was from the facility of a federal institution,” he said.

The Federal Government under ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Lagos State government had promised to compensate the victims’ families, but so many of them alleged that the government reneged on its promise and they were left to face the tragedy alone.