When a nation mourns …. Crisis story-telling

Two editions ago, I told you about the dangers of the “ember” months in Nigeria (September – December) and how Nigerians try to manage the period.

Now dreadful things are beginning to happen.  What do you think can a throw a whole nation into deep mourning and bring diverse groups together despite their differences?  The death of the wife of the country’s President, and a plane crash can do it.  That is the trauma that hit Nigeria in the late hours of October 22, 2005.  And there were many lessons to learn.

Citizens woke up early next day to be hit with the news of the double tragedy. The country’s First Lady was no more while 117 persons (passengers and crew) perished in a Boeing 737 crash on flight from Lagos to Abuja.  That was a backbreaker.  Information flow was not well managed by the state and airline authorities.  Television and radio stations cancelled scheduled programmes to broadcast intermittently that a passenger plane from Lagos to Abuja was declared missing, three minutes after take – off.

It was a Sunday morning and so offices were shut.  Thousands of Nigerians did not know what was on air as they hurried off to church services.  Shortly after, there was breaking news, the death of the country’s first lady Chief (Mrs.) Stella Obasanjo.  At first, many Nigerians thought she was on board the plane that crashed.  She was not.  She died in Spain from complications arising from plastic surgery.

Confusion and mourning set in, all over the land.  Anxious family members whose loved ones boarded the ill – fated flight scampered all over the cities in search of information they could not get.  The crash put the country’s crisis management capacity and efficiently to test.  Unfortunately we failed.  It prolonged anxiety and even amplified the national anguish.

The search and rescue apparatus of the nation’s aviation authorities apparently went to sleep.  16 hours after the crash, the site could not be located.  All sorts of incorrect information circulated as frightened Nigerians frantically exchanged telephone calls (thanks to GSM) to know the fate of those on board the aircraft.

Soon, unconfirmed reports circulated that the plane crashed but there were many survivors.  Hope rising. Anxious relatives of the passengers on board the flight besieged the airline’s head office in Lagos.  There was no airline official to speak to. 

At about noon that Sunday morning, aviation authorities search and rescue team announced the crashed site had been located at Kishi, town located between Oyo and Kwara States.  Wrong information. More apprehension as the nation waited in agony.

It took the resourcefulness of a television crew from African Independent Television AIT to hit the road and discover the crash site at Lisa village in Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State.  The crew took exclusive shots at the crash site, rushed back to the studios in Lagos and beamed it to the nation. Before the broadcast, AIT warned viewers that some of the pictures were gory.

 Nigerians watched in horror the spectacle of disaster as decapitated human and aircraft parts  littered the swampy land where the jet crashed. The most terrifying was the location of the aircraft fuselage, which hit the ground creating a 20 feet crater where it was buried with many passengers entombed.  That was when it dawned on the nation that there were no survivors.

  The National Broadcasting Commission did not like the broadcast of the pictures. It accused the TV station of professional misconduct and clamped a suspension order on AIT, stopping it from further broadcast.  But the suspension was lifted about 12hrs later.

The AIT broadcast gave direction to the search. When it became clear that there were no survivors, the outpouring of emotions was massive. Those that died included politicians, businessmen, bankers, businessmen, men, women, and a child. On board was a girl whose wedding was just a month away, and another that recently wedded.  Two couples also perished.  The damage was colossal.  The nation was thrown into deep mourning.  Instantly, Lisa village turned into a tourist spectacle, not for relaxation, but for weeping and mourning.

For seven days, mourners and relatives of crash victims trooped to pour out their grief and anguish at the crash site where many hopes were dashed, dreams unfulfilled, breadwinners and spouses lost.  One woman was seen on television apparently talking to her dead husband:  “My dear, if only I can get your finger or toes to take home”.  Relations of crash victims found to their dismay that they could not get the bodies of their loved ones for burial. They perished beyond recognition, how painful.  October 22-29 was a trying period for Nigeria.  The nation mourned, and tears are still flowing. Nigeria is really in the throes of the “ember” months.