Ikeja Cantonment Bomb Blasts: Families Of Victims Stop 9th Anniversary

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For the first time since the Ikeja Cantonment bomb blasts in 2002, the ninth  anniversary to remember the thousands of victims who lost their lives during the  blasts was aborted yesterday by families of the deceased.

The anniversary, which normally holds on 27 January every year as a memorial  for those who lost their lives, did not hold on Thursday while the ceremonial laying  of wreath at the memorial arcade at the bank of Oke-Afa canal, Ejigbo, Lagos, South  West Nigeria, was also aborted.

It was gathered that the families of the deceased stopped the Ejigbo Local  Council Development Area, LCDA, from  holding the anniversary henceforth, saying  that it would bring back the cruel memory of the past and that government did not  meet their demands.

A representative of the families of victims, Mr. Ola Majekodunmi, said nine  years after the incident, the state government was yet to fulfill the promise it  made to ensure that the families of the victims were not neglected or left to suffer  the painful memories of the incident.

He said the financial package contributed by non-government organisations after the  blast was not used for the purpose they were donated.

“I have the pictures during the presentation of the aid by NGOs.  I still have them;  so where is the money? And then they say they spent billions here.  Are they not  using our families to trade?  That was why we also stopped the tourism plan because  it’s a ploy to make money out of us,” he stated.

Majekodunmi lashed out at the excuse given by a government official that the money  donated was used to beautify the graves as well as purchase coffins.

He, however, commended the state government for succumbing to the request of the  victims’ families to stop the yearly wreath laying ceremony near the canal site,  saying that it brought back painful memories to the people bereaved.

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Speaking yesterday, the Chairman of the Ejigbo LCDA, Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan  said the council’s intention to turn the graveyard to a tourist centre was oppossed  by relatives of the victims even after series of meetings held with them to see  reason with the idea.

“Their opposition to the idea has really slowed us down and this even informed the  reason for not making an elaborate ceremony out of it today, (yesterday) being the  ninth remembrance anniversary of the incident,” he stated.

He said the council would forward to the state government, the names of twelve  divers who rescued some persons alive and recovered the corpses, saying they would  undergo training as divers’ instructors which could be vital for future occurrences.

Bamigbetan, however, disclosed that Governor  Babatunde Fashola had approved the  construction of the Ejigbo- Ajao Estate Link Bridge in memory of the victims of the  bomb blasts.

According to him, the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure is spearheading the  construction of the bridge expected to cost over N2.8 billion, saying that the final  design had also been approved.

“The bridge would run from the canal where the victims lost their lives over to Ajao  Estate; that is the concept of the bridge.  When completed, you would be able to  move from Ejigbo through Ajao to link the airport road to Oshodi. The idea is that  if there had been a bridge, those who died would not have needed to go into the  water, they would have taken the bridge.  So it’s like a realisation of a dream of  over nine years,” he said.

—Kazeem Ugbodaga

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