Editor’s note: This week in the Nigerian history marks some sad loses of our compatriots under the fearful circumstances. On Saturday, October 19, 1986, a letter bomb terminated the life of Dele Giwa, a gifted Nigerian journalist.
The third week of October marks some of the most painful, unnecessary and reckless human losses we have suffered in the history of Nigeria. One of them was the horrendous assassination of Dele Giwa, a vibrant journalist and editor par excellence, the founder of the Newswatch magazine, and the pioneer of weekly magazine publications in Nigeria. His body was mangled by a bomb parcelled as a letter “from the CinC” and sent to him on the Saturday morning, October 19, 1986. Whether that “CinC” meant “commander-in-chief” or “chief in concord” has remained a mystery up to now. However, it was clear at the time when the incident happened that Dele Giwa had ground relationship matters with both chiefs. It has been 29 years already, nevertheless, I would like to remind Nigerians about the question: “Who killed Dele Giwa?” Is this question still upon our lips today? As we pay tribute to Dele Giwa and his great contribution to journalism in Nigeria including the advancement and shaping of the modern standards for news media, let us also reflect on one of the darkest night Nigerians faced exactly a decade ago.
Like the Siamese planes coming in trail, the Bellview flight 210 that left Lagos on Saturday, October 22, 2005, at 20:35, and headed for Abuja disappeared from the radars a minute after take-off. It was later found buried under the belly of Lisa village in Ogun state, Nigeria. While Nigerians were trying to digest that break-in news, with the initial reports indicating survivors and the subsequent updates telling that all 117 souls, 111 passengers and six crew members, were buried alive under the belly of Lisa village, another breaking news flashed on our tubes: our amiable First Lady, Dame Stella Abebe-Obasanjo, died from surgical complications in a certain “kind” of hospital in the “remote” Spain on Sunday, October 23, 2005. The stories woven around these events even made a BBC reporter christen Nigeria as a place “where the truth is hard to find”.
As for me, both news had too many things to consider, however, at that time the government preferred to just wish them away. Now I raise questions that has occupied my mind for these past 10 years, and dedicate this piece to all 117 Nigerians who lost their lives on that dark, bone-chilling Saturday night as I join the families of the victims in remembering them on this 10th anniversary. I hope to be excused for whatever offenses my sincere questions may cause.
Jesus Christ taught us: “You have heard that it was said by them of old time, (that) you shall not commit adultery: but I say unto you, that whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Mathew 5.27-28). Apart from instructing his followers to always reconsider frail human desires and the need for self-control, Jesus, here, told about originating pure thoughts from the heart, buttressing the truth that all material things, seen and unseen realities, berthed upon contemplation, personal confessions (verbal or written) and deliberate works done.
It is widely known that a passionate desire in a human’s heart often materializes, especially when it is confessed with the mouth and believed in with the heart. In other words, what a person desires and confesses is most likely to find existential life to push for its animation. It is true to say a person is who he believes and confesses to be. “As a man thinks in his heart, so he is,” the Holy Book states. The late legal icon, Gani Fawehinmi, was a bit hard on the former president Obasanjo in the letter he wrote to him on the occasion of his wife’s death, in which he asked Olusegun Obasanjo why he allowed his wife to undergo cosmetic surgery abroad. This question was pregnant, and the use of the word “allowed” was also instructive. The late legal luminary may have based his query on moral and religious grounds, being a devote Muslim. At that time I joined other Nigerians who welcomed Gani’s query. Let me therefore proverbially say that those who forget their history are condemned to repeat it. Gani’s letter, whether it was acceptable to Chief Obasanjo or not, is now a document of history, but permit me hence to dwell on the spiritual issue of nursing a desire, a passionate one at that, to materialise the darkness of Saturday, October 22, 2005.
I was taken aback when Olumuyiwa Olusegun Obasanjo, the son of Olusegun Obasanjo, during the Federal Executive Council session held in honour of his late mother, discarded a prepared speech, which, maybe, his father expected him to read, and asked to be allowed to speak from his heart. Whatsoever he said after that, I believe, was from inspiration and divinely tailored to deposit revelations on the path for the truth to prevail.
Olumuyiwa Obasanjo revealed a discussion he had with his mother relating to the funeral of Stella’s grandmother, Olumuyiwa’s great grandmother respectively. His mother told him of how she desired the honour accorded to her grandmother during the funeral, and she spoke so passionately about it. I wonder what aspects of her grandmother’s funeral captivated Stella so much to arouse the interest to a funeral at all? What a strange thought for anyone who has everything going for them! This desire, although revealed maybe only to Olumuyiwa, was buried under a more auspicious desire to celebrate a well-organized and well-attended birthday anniversary. Stella’s husband, Olusegun Obasanjo, granted everything she needed for the celebration. He said he did it to compensate her for one promise had not fulfilled in the past. Hmmm! “How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s ear”.
In the words of the organizers of Stella’s birthday, everything was ready for the “birthday” celebration, and the invitation cards were already out. Almost everyone close to Stella suggested that she might have had the premonition she would die. She requested the husband’s cooperation in regularising their matrimony according to the strictest Catholic traditions, so that she could partake of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Father Mathew Hassan Kukah, who conducted all rituals during Stella obsequies, said that any member of the Catholic Church who attained this privilege enjoyed the same Catholic funeral rites as the Pope. Moreover, Chief Obasanjo said that after the sacrament of matrimony was observed, Stella thanked him for saving her soul. If Stella therefore desired the glamour of her grandmother’s funeral, conducted while she was the First Lady of Nigeria, there could not be better time for the actualisation of her dream.
It was no longer news that what was prepared for the memorable birthday celebration was used to conduct a well-orchestrated funeral. We all saw the honour accorded to the late First Lady at all events concerning her funeral. Stella’s death waited until it could be a part of history. She became the first wife of a serving Nigerian president to die while the husband was in office. She was the first woman to be given a national burial. She is also the first woman of national prominence to enjoy a minute of silence during the Federal Executive Council meeting. “Abeg, OBJ try for him wife joo!” A husband who desired to fulfill, at least once, the promise he had made to his wife, could not but put in everything to make it up for her, though at her burial. Strange things happen sha! Stella Obasanjo was also the first to be celebrated at the National Ecumenical Center, the “one-stop church” for all Nigerian Christians. Stella could not have it better. She opened the gates of Aso Rock Villa to all and sundry. It is often said that it is good to quit when the ovation is loudest; here lies an important lesson from Stella to us.
Florence Ita Giwa, during her condolence homily at the Moshood Abiola stadium in Abeokuta where Stella’s funeral rites were conducted, said though Stella looked petite in frame, she was a giant at heart. Stella’s end was stated to be a courageous one. I am saying this because I keep imagining how Stella died. I know that surgery bears wounds, and wounds are painful. However, one thing I am certain about is that the death of our 117 brothers and sisters was not only painful, but also undoubtedly frightening. It was the height of spiritual wickedness in high places. Sometimes I am convinced that Stella died of heart attack. I completely disagree that the hospital in Spain was not a competent one. If it is true that the King and Queen of Spain were Stella’s personal friends, why would she sneak into their country and die on their bosoms? In line with my “heart attack theory”, I feel that it was the news of the missing Bellview flight and the death of so many Nigerians passed on to her in the hospital that led to her demise. Stella’s death waited to be heralded by the unfortunate Bellview air crash.
Stella’s death was no doubt sad , but it is the way of all people. What was sadly tragic was the air crash that abruptly terminated everything about the 117 souls it claimed. For the investigators of that crash to say they could not find the black box was the most unfortunate, even if it meant relocating the people of Lisa to bulldoze the ground to exhume the corpses for burial and extract the plane’s data storage device for proper investigation. How then could we find out what was the likely cause of the unfortunate crash that led to a complete disappearance of over 100 people in the face of the confused government?
At that time all the moves of the government were faulty. Many opinions and suggestions were forwarded and analyzed concerning the crash, but I did not hear anybody questioning the rationale of the government organizing a quick “inter-faith” (whatsoever that means) memorial service for the crash victims. Babangida’s government appeared much more sensible in organizing a national funeral for the victims of Hercules A310. The government’s hypocrisy was further displayed by the rushing of every aspect of the passage rites for “the 117″ to make it follow a comprehensive total package passage rite for Stella. This is the reason I say that the tragedy, which happened because of human error, heralded Stella’s death and government made it worst by making their “official” activities during this period look more like the funeral of traditional monarchs, who are usually buried with “human heads”. Was such “un-confession-able” notion borne in all preceding and initial arrangements as translated and acted?
From the day the events happened, I meditated upon them and followed every lead, yet there still remained a gap of information: what led to that crash? Lisa villagers said they cried for government’s attention without success, and regret that it took that tragedy to attain that attention. What is the present situation of those villagers; and how long ago did officials of government last visited that officially claimed “government memorial arcade” in Lisa, Ogun State?
As negligible as the words of man’s mouth can be, let us know that it could pave the way for such calamities. When the glory of God is not upheld by mortal men, those creations of God whose duty it is to glorify God at all times can rise against the defiance of God’s glory through calamities, in order to make certain that which is the pearl upon God’s crown as king over all creation. In this respect, let me recall the sinking of the “unsinkable’’ ship, the Titanic, in 1912. Shortly before the Ship set sail; one of Titanic wealthy passengers stood boastfully before his intended mother-in-law and said the Titanic was a ship “even God cannot sink”. Few hours after this lousy statement, the architects, builders and financiers of the construction of the ship assembled over dinner, to go over aspects of the ship that made it so secured; and tempted to alter its energy and advance as a means of boasting. Unknown to mortal men, the hand of providence led the ship to hit a precipice and from a very small hole made on the body of the ship, nature overtook subsequent events, leading to the loss of 1500 of 2200 souls on that cold and dark night.
We may say that the occurrence had a play of providence, but what led to that disaster was the instruction one of the financiers gave to the Captain. He told the Captain to accelerate the ship such that while they were been expected by noon at their destination in America as scheduled, they would arrive by dawn with the people waking up to find that they had berth in the early morning. They tried to save about 8 hours but ended in losing everything. Indeed “speed kills”. What was aimed at further enhancing the rating of the Titanic led to its ridicule: it did not get to its destination of its first sail; it was like a “still-born”. Against the advice of the Captain, the financier pressured him into increasing the speed and the two Deckhands set to watch the night-time distance were carried away by the love tango of two youths. The watch men abandoned their watch; and before they set again to their watch it was already too late. Their observation became late and so also was the alarm set off a little before the hit. The ship sank; the Titanic floundered. I wish to observe this tradition in every calamity: A lousy tongue, an unsustained human confidence and a distraction from duty.
Ex-President Obasanjo had during one of the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua memorial lectures in the year 2000, while commenting on the circumstance of Yar’Adua’s murder, said that although he was not disputing that there is an “act of God”, he said it must also be accepted that there is also an “act of man”. God only interposes in human affairs when his glory is brought to disrepute. In the Bellview 210 air crash, let us continue to be consoled; let our faith be grounded in only God. Though God allow calamities happen, what usually happens is caused by the errors of men. There are lessons in these tragedies to learn from, and until we do, we shall experience it again. Government should always stand up to its responsibilities. Those managing aspect of services that involves human lives must put into their duties their best of time and dedication. They must understand the sacred sanctity of a human life. Generally, we must be sensitive to our thoughts, confessions and confidences. The losses we suffered were definitely victims of careless men. The ex-President’s appeal that those tragedies should unite Nigerians was the most childish expectation by a grown man. It is like Father Kukah said in his exhortation at Stella’s funeral; we must sell all that we have and follow after Truth. It is only in Jesus that all varieties are made one. The tragedies that occurred can only enhance unity just as it could be expected that the “Apo Six tragedy” can unite Nigerians. All the tragedies are indicative of the caliber of Government we are operating in Nigeria. Let’s not run from it.
This is where people misunderstood the position of Gani Fawehinmi on Stella. She had her chooses and she had all she wanted; but “the 117″ may never have the opportunity she had, especially in getting her husband to save her “soul”. All the same, may their souls continue their rest in peace. Finally, let me admonish that no President should look for unity in other peoples’ tragedies, but put concrete policies in place by assembling political and economic vehicles to convey an un-pretended national unity, speedy socio-economic advancement and progressive national stability. These are all founded only on truth, and it is truth that can unlock the shackles with which we are bound as a people. Until we deal with each other on the basis of truth, we are all lost. May the souls of Dele Giwa, Stella Abebe Obasanjo and all 117 brothers and sisters rest in peace, amen. I just had to “talk my own make Nigeria for better”.
Ini Akpan Morgan for Naij.com
Ini A. Morgan is a Port Harcourt-based architect, writer and public affairs analyst. He is married with children.
This article expresses the author’s opinion only. The views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Naij.com or its editors.
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3d Week Of October: Commemorating Stella Obasanjo, Giwa And Bellview Flight Crash Victims
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