Just like any other day, Jan 27th, 2002 will be a day Lagosians will never forget in a hurry. It is a Sunday afternoon, just after service, we all thought it's going to rain as there are thundering sounds, I remembered my mom told me to go and pack the washed clothes inside because it is about to rain, little did we know that calamity and wailings await the center of excellence. 3000 were reported dead in the Oke Afa river of the Ikeja cantonment. This is not to bore you, but to have a reflect on Ikeja 27th Jan., bombing in Lagos. Let these pictures refresh your mind...


Source:
http://www.ajayiwrites.com/2017/01/throwback-to-27th-jan-2002-ikeja.html

2002 Lagos armoury explosion

The Lagos armoury explosion was the accidental detonation of a large stock of military high explosives at a storage facility in the city of Lagos, Nigeria, on 27 January 2002. The fires created by the debris from this explosion burnt down a large section of Northern Lagos, and created a panic that spread to other areas. As people fled the flames, many stumbled into a concealed canal and were drowned. The explosion and its aftermath are believed to have killed at least 1,100 people and displaced over 20,000, with many thousands injured or homeless. The government of Nigeria launched an enquiry, which blamed the Nigerian Army for failing to properly maintain the base, or to decommission it when instructed to do so in 2001.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Lagos_armoury_explosion

www.nairaland.com/attachments/4793873_20170127151200_jpeg61f217136e5af899ac37e006d7b943d1

The canal: underneath the leaves lie shallow water

What the canal actually looks like without its surface being covered

Mass grave for the victims

Names of some of the victims

Government constructed this bridge after the disaster

https://www.thecable.ng/reminiscence-13-years-ikeja-cantonment-bomb-blast-tears-not-dried

God rest their souls...


Read more here..

http://www.ajayiwrites.com/2017/01/throwback-to-27th-jan-2002-ikeja.html

Na this day i know say somewhere called ikorodu existed


Trekked from ojota to ikorodu that night

Hmm

R.I.P

May their souls continue to rest in peace. ...Amen!

Then bombings were rare. Now we hear bombs and body counts in Nigeria like it's nothing. Father Lord save your children.

It gets Better

RIP to those Precious souls

SexyBabe001:
Just like any other day, Jan 27th, 2002 will be a day Lagosians will never forget in a hurry. It is a Sunday afternoon, just after service, we all thought it's going to rain as there are thundering sounds, I remembered my mom told me to go and pack the washed clothes inside because it is about to rain, little did we know that calamity and wailings await the center of excellence. 3000 were reported dead in the Oke Afa river of the Ikeja cantonment. This is not to bore you, but to have a reflect on Ikeja 27th Jan., bombing in Lagos. Let these pictures refresh your mind...


Source:
http://www.ajayiwrites.com/2017/01/throwback-to-27th-jan-2002-ikeja.html

Tell me someone got convicted for this carnage. Who pls?

It is not afternoon, but evening. It started few minutes before 17GMT.
God saved my life and that of my younger brother. We ran from mafoluku to ejigbo with leg that night, and as God will have it we also came back that night, although very late, to the suprise of my family members who are serching for us.

Can someone refresh my memory on what really happened then? Was it boko haram?

Zonacom:

Tell me someone got convicted for this carnage. Who pls?

LOL.. Welcome to Lagos..

I remember the sad occurrence. May the soul of the dead people rest in peace.

RIP

What cut my attention most, "after the disaster, government construct this bridge"

I know things are getting better in lagos state.

But there are situation calling for attention now, especially the one that wreck havoc.

Let pay attention to it and report it to various agents.


That day was memorable indeed. I walked from Ikeja to Abule Egba.


R.I.P.

I pray the dead finds solace in the bosom of the Lord

I remember that day very well. Most people died as they were running away from the blast and they drowned in the shallow water cover with leaves

I pray we will never experience such disaster again

I was there as a Child in 2002, living in the Barracks.

I thank God for my Life and that of my Family.

That day was scary

.water runaway my eyes.

Rip,,

just like yesterday. I was at OAU and there were rumors about lagos being attacked. Not until we accessed CNN via our department's internet cafe that we got the real news of what was happening.

Deejacy2:
I was there as a Child in 2002, living in the Barracks.

I thanks God for my Life and that of my Family.

That day was scary

How old are u now

i remember that day

i dont even live close but i felt the tremor. thought it was another civil war

Deejacy2:
I was there as a Child in 2002, living in the Barracks.

I thanks God for my Life and that of my Family.

That day was scary

How old are u now sukura

How can I forget such a day!!!

Zonacom:

Tell me someone got convicted for this carnage. Who pls?

The fact was the bomb was meant for OBJ but being an herbalist himself he saw what was coming and rounded up his visit to the cantonment quickly before the bomb starts detonating, it was a well planned "accidental bombing" to eliminate the ebora but who was behind it still remains a misery yet to be uncovered. May the souls of the departed continue to rest in peace

I remember this day like yesterday

It was January 27, 2002. I was preparing for Jamb then. My family went to my hometown for a relative burial leaving only me at home. After reading for a while, I decided to switch on the TV. I cant remember which teams were playing, but I know I was carried away by the football match. All of a sudden, I heard a big bang. I initially thought it was my neighbour kids. I thought to myself that if it's any of those kids disturbing my peace, I will beat the crap out of them. Few seconds later, I heard another bang. But this time around the ground was vibrating. I said to myself, wait a minute, these kids can't have such power to bang and vibrate the ground. So I decided to go outside and observe what was going on. To my utmost surprise, I saw mammoth of crowd, everyone looking confused to what was going on. Then I went to the top floor of the 3rd house to my house which is a 3 storey building to have a better glimpse of what was going on. There I saw crowd of adults all speculating what was happening. Some said the military has overthrown Obasanjo, some said another civil war has broken out - Papa Chidi started talking about the ordeal of the civil war, and how he prayed never to witness another war in his lifetime, some said it was Cameroun fighting Nigeria because of Bakassi peninsula etc. Bro Dee came up with the most reasonable speculation that from his observation that he thinks it is an explosive factory that mistakenly caught fire and set up the chain reaction. While everyone was speculating what the situation is, Mama Mary out of nowhere with anxiety and fear written all over her face shouted let's start running to the 4th street away. Then I said how are we sure those people there are not trying to run to our own street. Bro Dee looked at me and said this young man is very intelligent. He told Mama Mary to calm down that we will continue to listen to radio to know what the problem is, then after we know what the problem is, we can strategize what to do next. After about 30 minutes later, we heard in the radio that it was a mistake from military cantonment that caused explosives to start exploding. Not too long afterwards, my pops eventually got through to my neighbour who he had tried to call like a million times in order to talk to me. He narrated what he heard from my hometown, and I told him I'm aware of the situation and everything is fine with me. I could feel panic in my mom's voice at the background (the fear of a mother). It wasn't until the next day that we heard of the bad news of how a lot of lifes were lost in the Oke afa canal. That day, I saw Mama Mary, and I asked her if she heard of the Oke afa tragic news, she said yes. Then I told her that can she see why it's not good to start running when you don't know what you're running from. She said my brother it is TRUE o. My heart goes out to all the family that lost someone in this tragedy especially the parent that lost all their kids. May God continue to condole them and may all the innocent souls lost continue to rest in peace. I pray we don't witness this kind of tragedy again in Nigeria

Moral of the lesson: Don't run when you don't know what is pursuing you, and don't pray for war when you haven't witnessed one before.