Army topshot assures of Ikeja cantonment’s safety

It is now ten years after the January 27, 2002 Ikeja bomb explosions that claimed a good number of lives of Lagos residents. The bombs exploded in the armoury of the 9 Brigade of the Nigerian Army. Part of the debate thrown up by the explosions was the ever-present argument that military barracks shouldn’t be located in town limits but in town outskirts.

Chief S A Okunrinjeje is the Olukosi 1 of Onigbongbo, the community closest to the 9 Brigade barracks. He told Community Mirror that “we don’t want the barracks in our neighbourhood. We never wanted it in the first place but it’s been there since the colonial era. All the same, we don’t want it because it is a threat to us, and that was proven by the explosions ten years ago.”

But while Okunrinjeje is adamant that the barracks should be relocated, another Onigbongbo resident, Dele Jimoh, is satisfied with its presence. “I don’t see anything wrong with the barracks being here. Its location here is security for us. Armed robbers can’t just come here anyhow because they will be scared that the soldiers will engage them.”

He however concedes that “the barracks must be proven safe, though, that it can never cause loss of human lives again with another set of explosions. In fact, bombs should not even be in the barracks at all.”

Since the bomb explosions in 2002, the 9 Brigade has worn a new look both in human resources and physical structures. The current commander of 9 Brigade is Brigadier-General S N Muazu who readily discloses that he wasn’t the commander in 2002. Yet Muazu is fully aware of the bomb explosions.

“It’s a sad incident that we can never forget,” said Muazu. “Many lives were lost in the canal at Oke-Afa, a great pity. Our men of 9 Brigade were also affected then, as well as many structures damaged in the cantonment. To be frank, the explosions were unexpected and a shock, especially because you don’t pray for such to happen, neither do you deliberately make it happen.”

Muazu however assured scared residents of the communities in the barrack’s vicinity that the explosions can never occur again.

“We have learnt our lesson from that incident, and we intend to make sure it doesn’t repeat itself. We’ve combed the barracks and no ordnances are lying around that might go off. And we keep combing and securing our ordnances so everyone is safe.”

Talking about how the explosions affected 9 Brigade, he said, “Some of our men and their families were displaced as a result of the explosions. Some schools in the cantonment were damaged, leading to a disruption in the academic calendar of the students in those schools. As I speak to you, we are only just completing the renovation of many structures damaged then.

“There are some structures that we haven’t even decided what to do with them because our engineers have told us that they have become structurally deficient so we are waiting for results of further testing to determine if we will demolish them or not.

“Similarly, a newly built Cantonment Medical Centre will soon be commissioned. It was built for us by the Lagos State Government to ameliorate the effects of the explosions which destroyed the original medical centre. Though we’ve a medical centre we are using presently, this new one is bigger and more sophisticated.”