A twin-engine Indonesian police plane on Saturday went missing with 15 people on board en route to the island of Batam, south of Singapore, police said.
“The plane is thought to have crashed between the islands of Mensanak and Sebangka or Gentar.
“A search team recovered items apparently identified as being from the missing aircraft,’’ the police report said.
However, no other details were immediately available. (Reuters/NAN)
It is nearly four years now since former Taraba State governor Danbaba Suntai, a pharmacist, survived an air crash in the suburb of Yola, the Adamawa State capital, in which he was the pilot. Many may have forgotten about the crash and the political crisis Taraba State slipped into. But four years after, a book on the ailing governor has renewed the story and exposed those who stood to his defence and those who betrayed him after the air mishap he and his three security aides unbelievably survived.
No one had written any memoir on him throughout the eight years he held sway as the helmsman in Taraba State until he left Government House unceremoniously. The book on him, entitled: Suntai: Betrayers, Loyalists and the Media War, by an editor and columnist, Emmanuel Bello, who was his media chief and Commissioner for Information, is not his biography, but an account of the struggle for power shift, particularly the intrigues which plunged Taraba State into political and constitutional crisis.
Coming out two months after the former governor’s birthday, the book will be presented to the public on the author’s birthday September 15. Taraba’s new governor, Darius Ishaku will be the distinguished guest of honour at the book launch while the senator representing Southern Taraba, Emmanuel Bwacha will chair the occasion. Bwacha was a major character in the drama that heralded the dawn after Suntai crashed on October 25, 2012.
The period from October 25, 2012 to November 21, 2015 was characterised by intrigues, scheming and backstabbing as Suntai’s deputy Garba Umar wanted to become the substantive governor by removing his principal and benefactor on health grounds, and succeeding him in last year’s general election.
Abubakar Sani Danladi who was Suntai’s running mate in 2007 and 2011 elections was on October 4, 2012 impeached by the State House of Assembly, allegedly at the prompting of Suntai, which paved the way for Umar to come on board. In the end, Taraba State returned to stability when Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, among six other judges of the Supreme Court sacked Umar and Danladi was reinstated as Suntai’s deputy on November 21 last year. Danladi, now a senator, returned as acting governor and worked in partnership with the Suntai camp in the remaining six months of the Suntai administration. He also supported and aided power shift to the south of the state which was the major cause of the political crisis.
The crisis had taken many fronts, but Bello’s 130-page book in 11 interesting chapters, including “Bad News, Good News”, “The Return”, and “A House Divided,” duels more on the media warfare of the crisis.
For instance, Garba Umar’s supporters mounted a strong propaganda in the media against Suntai, to give a sort of credibility that he was a vegetable and brain-damaged. They even said Suntai could not talk and that his wife Hajiya Hauwa appreciated this predicament. The Suntai group however, continued to report that the injured governor was not really bad. They pointed out that Suntai made a broadcast to the state, inspected some projects and could walk unaided. They flayed a video propaganda in which Suntai admitted he was not strong to resume work, describing the video as “fake, scandalous, and mischievous”.
What motivated Bello to write on the Taraba crisis? “I have been asked all sorts of questions concerning the saga by reporters and the general public alike, so I thought I should write a little book to correct some misconceptions and also to reawaken some debates. Maybe we could understand more why the two camps took the positions they took and why they behaved the way they did. The book is also a narrative of the humble role I played during the crisis.
“Ultimately, I want to shed a little light on the events of that period. The book covers the period after the plane crash that saw Governor Suntai and three of his aides surviving. The political manoeuvres which followed are its central theme.”
With a foreword written by the Chairman, Thisday editorial board, Olusegun Adeniyi, the book says the Taraba saga bears some similarities with the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua situation especially the role the nation’s media played in the ensuing dramas.
In his lucid account of what really happened, Bello said the Suntai narrative is one of those weird stories of how humans supernaturally escape the fangs of death. However, politics and the attendant media war, he said, “marred the side of survival as many dramas ensued afterwards.” He said the issues that involved the media motivated him to write the book, which he has said is not intended to indict anybody.
“My book is not an attempt to indict or exonerate anyone. Everyone acted out of their place which decidedly is the protection of interests at best. One man’s betrayer is another man’s loyalist.”
The author noted that many years after, some of the “misrepresentations” he confronted back then are still very much around. “I believe this work would come in handy to those who were not privy to some of the issues that cropped up at that time.
“Even now people still ask me questions they asked nearly four years ago. This book should be able to serve as an answer sheet to some of these thorny questions.
“I believe other more qualified persons can weigh in, and hopefully someday, write a much more robust story of the period under review, taking into account the politics. What I have done is to take a small part of the Suntai story and expound on the subject of media warfare at the time.”
Nevertheless, Bello believes his book, an interesting piece of the political comedy drama in Taraba, will certainly spawn new controversies and debates.
“I have no doubt that this book would generate some controversies as some of the wounds are still fresh. But lest we forget, I thought we should be able to quickly remind ourselves of events of one of the most trying periods in Taraba state annals. After all, history is nothing but a guide for the present and a road map to the future.”
The book is a must read for those who could not understand what really happened. Looking back in retrospect at what befell Suntai, Bello said in the book; “Nigerians, particularly Taraba people, must thank God for sparing the lives of the former governor and all his aides who were involved in that crash. Today, all the four men are still living. They remain a shining testimony to the resilience of a people and the assurance of divine mercy and intervention in the affairs of mortal. The book is a tribute to all of them who survived the plane crash.”
A witness yesterday spoke on how the Nigerian Air Force fighter jet on a bombing mission against Boko Haram crashed in a windstorm in Adamawa state town Hong.
The pilot of the plane was killed according to the Air Force.
The jet “returning to base from an interdicted mission crashed due to bad weather and not under enemy fire,” Air Force spokesman Commodore Dele Alonge said in a statement on Saturday.
The Air Force yesterday said the Chief of Air Staff it had set up an investigation panel.
The Chinese-built Chengdu F7 went down in a rural area of Adamawa State, Commodore Alonge said. The crash happened in an area where Boko Haram Islamic extremists last year shot down a military jet and beheaded its pilot.
Farmer Moses David said he watched the pilot parachute from the plunging jet, only to ram into a tree, which killed him, according to French News Agency, AFP.
He said there was a violent windstorm when the jet hit the ground with such force that its nose is buried.
In August, a Nigerian Air Force plane crashed into a home in northern Kaduna city, killing all four crew and three passengers. In November 2014, a military helicopter exploded in the northeast, killing all three crew members. In December 2013, Boko Haram destroyed two helicopter gunships and three fighter jets in northeastern Maiduguri city.
IT was bought to raise its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) base. But since the Bauchi State government acquired the Embraer 145 aircraft, it has been a drain pipe, rather than being a pot of cash, writes AUSTINE TSENZUGHUL.
Why did the former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Ahmadu Mu’azu, acquire an aircraft for Bauchi State in the twilight of his second term as governor in 2006?
Those who know Mu’azu as a business-oriented person felt he bought the aircraft to increase the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the northwestern state. They believed the former governor probably planned to commercialise the plane. Mallam Isa Yuguda, who took the mantle of leadership from him, many thought, would sustain the vision. Others felt the acquisition of a plane was just a misplaced priority.
Bauchi has one of the best international airports in the country. The facility, built by Mu’azu’s successor and inaugurated in February 2015, is well-equipped.
Ironically, the controversial aircraft, bought with the tax payers’ sweat, touched down at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa International Airport on September 17 for the first time since the airport was inaugurated.
The Embraer 145 aircraft, marked “5N –BJM”, was bought at $17.5 million and leased to Messrs Donnier (Dana) Aviation Ltd., who doubled as consultant to the airplane at the cost of N4 million weekly. The figure rose to N6 million weekly effective from 2013 after a revaluation.
A source close to the immediate past governor said: “From the beginning of the Governor Yuguda regime in 2007 to April 2015, the aircraft was leased to four operators. First it was IRS in 2007, with an expected monthly income of $115,000 to Bauchi State.”
It was learnt that the airline did not keep its own side of the bargain as it did not remit a dime to the state’s coffer for 17 months after the lease had been signed.
Uncomfortable with the development, Yuguda asked that the aircraft be grounded after series of talks,with IRS, which calimed that it had spent about N125 million on its maintenance.
With the collapse of the agreement with IRS, Messrs HAMSAL Air Ltd took over the plane in August 2009 with an agreement to remit to the state’s account N15 million every month.
Under HAMSAL’s management, the plane was taken to Ogama in Portugal for routine inspection and maintenance. It remained in Portugal till 2011. Strangely, the state government picked the maintenance bill despite the fact that the aircraft was being managed by an airline.
When the plane became operational in 2011, HAMSAL was refunded N128 million for the purported service and maintenance. The company was also paid N45 million for May, June and July in 2011. The purpose for the payment was not specified.
The payment triggered questions from some members of the Bauchi State Executive Council, who were said not by in Yuguda’s ‘kitchen cabinet’. An unconfirmed report said those who raised questions on the deal were kicked out of the Yuguda administration.
In August 2011, Associated Aviation indicated interest in leasing the aircraft and the plane was leased out with the approval of the state government. In the léase agreement, Associated Aviation accepted to pay a monthly rental fee of N16 million but on quarterly arrangements.
Unlike the previous leasees, Associated paid N50 million, covering the 2011 and January 2012 payments. Based on the agreement, the leasee was responsible for the maintenance of the plane for as long as the aircraft was in its custody.
The Associated Airline could not underwrite the expenses when the plane was also flown to Ogama, Lisbon, Portugal for ‘A’ Check and the aircraft was still in Portugal when it was due for a ‘C’ Check, thereby incurring more expenses.
Unable to settle the bills, the airline went back to the former administration under Yuguda government for bailout, a request that the government graciously obliged.
When The Nation checked at the airline to find out if an agreement existed between the state government and Associated Airline for such bailout, there was no written agreement that the state would be responsible ‘C’ Check.
A top official of the Associated Airline at its Lagos Office, who refused to disclose his name, wondered what informed media probe into the deal. The official said: “We’ll deal with you nosey journalist. Go back to your Bauchi and ask the state government for the contract details. And if I see you in this office again, you will end up in the lagoon. Stupid Bauchi journalist ko.”
At the Abuja office of the airline, no member of staff was willing to volunteer information on the “Bauchi bad deal”, as an official described it.
But, one thing that was established in Lagos was that Assoviated Airline had asked the Bauchi government to pick the maintenance bill with a promise to “settle the bill later”.
The airline also asked for a waiver, which the state government approved.
According to a source in Bauchi, “it was when Associated Airlines could neither refund the maintenance and the ‘C’ Check expenses that Overland Airways showed up”.
The source went on: “But Overland noted that our plane was no longer airworthy. Overland claimed the aircraft’s records were not up-to-date. So, it demanded that we update the records, return the plane to an airworthy condition. These demands got a speedy approval of the former governor.
“The state government further approved and released $600,000 to Overland in addition to $215,000 for the renewal of the EMB 145,5N-BJM’s insurance.
“Though I was part of the immediate past administration and I am assuring you that, that plane was rather a drain on the state resources because it did not generate even N1000:00 to the state government. Regrettably, up to the time the plane was in Morocco, the state was spending N4 million monthly as salary to its crew”.
The source, who has relocated to Abuja, said it was from the last leasee that the aircraft was taken to Morocco, North Africa, presumably, for a ‘C’ check and that when some of us were disengaged.
Another source, who pleaded for anonymity, told The Nation in Abuja: From the Associated, our aircraft was taken to Atlantic Air Industries, Morocco for maintenance reasons. But, I was made to understand that buyers were being looked for. When that Information leaked, the government put the deal on hold.
It remained unclear how the state government secured the plane’s release from the Moroccan aviation outfit. But, when Mohammed Abubakar, a former civil servant and one-time Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice in the state, assumed office as governor, he raised an Assets Recovery Committee, under the chairmanship of an Air Force Officer, Air Commodore Ahmed Tijjani-Baba )rtd).
It could be recalled that Governor Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State in his 100 days in office broadcast disclosed that his public Property Recovery Committee discovered an aircraft belonging to the state in Morocco.
Abubakar said that the recovered aircraft would be received by the state government in few days to come at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa International Airport, Bauchi.
He said that the aircraft was discovered as one of the state’s missing assets by the committee set up by his administration and headed by Air Commodore Ahmed Tijjani-Baba (rtd).
“I wish to announce the fruitful efforts in locating the state-owned “Embraer 145 Aircraft in Morocco and soon it will land at the Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa international Airport in a matter of days,” the governor had announced in his address on the occasion of his 100 days in office.
However, Yuguda said the fuss over the alleged missing aircraft was uncalled for. According to him, a detailed brief on the controversial plane is contained in the handover notes, and that his did not need any assets recovery committee to discover what happened to the aircraft.
He added that he even included a paragraph about the plane in the handover notes’ executive summary he prepared for Abubakar.
The governor promised that series of meetings were concluded in respect to the retrieval of the plane and assured “the plane would be received at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa International Airport, Bauchi in a matter of few days”.
There was jubilation when Capt. Edwards Boyo, of Overland Airline, landed the 54-seater Embraer 145 at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Airport, Bauchi on September 17. Both Boyo and the Bauchi plane were received by Nuhu Gidado, a civil engineer and Abubakar’s deputy. The governor was away to Abuja.
Although, governor has succeeded in retrieving the aircraft, which is parked on the tarmac at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Airport but, Abubakar has a long way to go as he has vowed to clear the eight-year rot to justify the overwhelming mandate given to his All Progressive Congress (APC) on April 11.
Deputy Governor Gidado has led other officials to inspect the aircraft where it is parker on the tarmac. In the team of inspectors were: Secretary to the State Government (SSG); Chief of Staff to the Governor special advisers to the governor, chairman of the Assets Recovery Committee and other party chieftains.
At a press briefing, Gidado acknowledged: “Our aircraft has not generated funds to the coffers of the state. Rather, the state has being spending its resources on it. But, we will discuss with the management of Overland on how we can generate funds from it. But for now, we are yet to know what to do with the plane.”
There is sharp disagreement on what the government should do to the recovered plane. Some have advised the state to sell off the plane and use its proceeds for other social amenities.
Others believe the plane should be retained to boost patronage to the Tabaw Balewa International Airport. They argue that it will attract more tourists to the state, especially the Yankari Game Reserves.
•Naze Millionaires remember dead duo 21 years later
Heartland will be eager to beat Lobi Stars as a tribute for the repose of the souls of Aimola Omale and Uche Ikeogu who both died when the club’s (then known as Iwuanyanwu Nationale) chartered flight crashed in Algeria in 1994 when they were returning from Tunisia after a CAF Champions Cup first leg tie against Esperance Sportive.
The ill-fated crash happened on September 18, 1994 and 21 years after the incident which happened in an Algerian town of Tamanrasset Heartland players and officials yesterday assembled to pray and have a procession in honour of the two players that died in the crash.
The Media Officer of Heartland, Cajetan Nkwopara told SportingLife the Naze Millionaires players and officials used part of their final training session ahead of Sunday’s duel with Lobi Stars to hold a procession and also pray for the repose of the lives of the dead duo of Omale and Ikeogu.
He said Heartland players have been told to approach the tie with the Pride of Benue with maximum concentration as they would like to dedicate the expected home win to the repose of the lives of their former heroes.
Nkwopara told SportingLife that the death of the two players in the Oriental Airline plane crash still remains one of the sad moments of the club and that even though it is over 20 years the incidence still remains ever fresh in their memories.
Bauchi State Government has discovered an aircraft belonging to the state which is hidden in Morocco.
Governor Mohammed Abubakar told citizens of the state at the weekend in a broadcast to mark the 100 days of his administration that the recovered aircraft would be received by the state government in a few days, at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa International Airport, Bauchi.
The governor said the aircraft was recovered by a committee set up by the government and headed by Air commandore Ahmed Tijjani-Baba (Rtd).
“The committee will now beam its satellite on the ministry for local affairs and the State Basic Education Board to see how billions of naira allocated to it was spent.
“Such example is the N2 billion micro loans and others that were allocated them, but carelessly spent leaving our pupils to study under the trees”, he said.
Abubakar assured that the state government would soon embark on the construction and reconstruction of some rural feeder roads to ease transportation problems.
He said that the government had refurbished five trucks belonging to the State Fire Service as part of safety measures.
Abubakar said that 420 youths had been engaged as street cleaners by the government under its youth employment scheme to curb youth restiveness.
He said water supply, especially within Bauchi metropolis, had improved following special interventions such regular payment of electricity bills and upgrade of electricity gadgets at Gubi Dam.
The governor called on the people to support his administration, to enable it serve them.
The search for an AirAsia plane carrying 162 passengers, including 17 children, was yesterday called off for poor visibility. The aircraft lost contact with Indonesian air traffic control early yesterday.
Before communication was lost, AirAsia Flight QZ 8501 asked to deviate from its planned flight route — from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore — because of weather conditions, AirAsia said in a statement.
There was conflicting information about when exactly the aircraft went missing. AirAsia said contact was lost at 7:24 a.m. yesterday (7:24 p.m. Saturday ET), but Indonesian aviation authorities said it happened earlier, at 6:17 a.m.
“At this time, search and rescue operations are being conducted under the guidance of the Indonesian Civil Aviation Authority,” AirAsia said.
Of the people on board the Airbus A320-200, 156 are Indonesians, three are South Koreans, a Frenchman, a Malaysian and a Singaporean, the airline said.
Seventeen children, including one infant, are among the passengers, the carrier said. Seven of the people on board are crew members.
“Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. We must stay strong,” AirAsia Chief Executive Tony Fernandes said on Twitter. He later announced he was travelling to Surabaya, saying most of the passengers are from there.
As news of the missing plane spread, the airline changed the colour of its logo on its social media accounts from red to gray.
The Flight 8501 “was requesting deviation due to en route weather before communication with the aircraft was lost,” the airline said.
From the flight tracking websites, almost the entire flight path appeared to be over the sea.
Bad weather was in evidence in the region at the time, Cable Network News (CNN) meteorologist Derek Van Dam said.
“We still had lines of very heavy thunderstorms” when the plane was flying, Van Dam said. “But keep in mind, turbulence doesn’t necessarily bring down airplanes,” he added.
CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo questioned whether weather would have been a factor in what happened to the plane.
“Ordinarily, the pilots would get the updated weather from air traffic control and, of course, their onboard radar,” said Schiavo, a former Inspector-General for the United States (US) Department of Transportation. “So whether there was (bad) weather in the area would not be a mystery.”
AirAsia is a Malaysia-based airline that is popular in the region as a budget carrier. It has about 100 destinations, with affiliate companies in several Asian countries.
The missing plane is operated by AirAsia’s Indonesian affiliate, in which the Malaysian company holds a 48.9 per cent stake, according to its website.
The Malaysian government said it was ready to offer assistance to Indonesian and Singaporean authorities.
“Very sad to hear that AirAsia Indonesia QZ8501 is missing,” Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Twitter. “My thoughts are with the families.”
The loss of contact with the AirAsia plane came 10 months after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which dropped off radar over Southeast Asia on March 8 with 239 people on board.
The Malaysian Airlines plane, a Boeing 777-200ER, lost contact with air traffic control over the South China Sea between Malaysia and Vietnam.
Searchers have yet to find any debris from Flight 370, which officials believe crashed in the southern Indian Ocean after veering dramatically off course.
US President Barack Obama has been briefed about the missing AirAsia plane, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said, adding that US officials will continue to monitor the situation.
A turkish plane caught fire during fuelling at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano.
It was gathered that the incident occurred at 11 pm.
The Airport authorities were mobilised to the site and the aircraft was towed away.
A source said the fuel tanker was partly razed and the aircraft “slightly damaged”.
The source said: “It was God who saved the aircraft. Men of the Airport Fire Service mobilised to the scene immediately.
“The good thing was that the fuelling was through a tanker, which partially caught fire but the fire was promptly put out, if it was underground fuelling, it would have been a disaster.”
Malaysian Airlines says it now has to assume “beyond any reasonable doubt” that missing flight MH370 has been lost and there are no survivors.
The announcement came in a text message, seen by the BBC, that was sent to families of those on board.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, with 239 people on board, went missing after taking off from Kuala Lumpur 8 March.
The announcement came as a search effort in the southern Indian Ocean completed a fifth day of operations.
DR. STELLA CHIJIOKE did a jig when she retired from her top flight job at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) last year. Celebrating 60, she danced like she had never done before. Many at the occasion could not help wondering why she was in such an ecstatic mood, but no one was in doubt as to the fact that she had been blessed with a privileged life. Born to a father who had a master’s degree in Education from the Edinburgh University at a time that one could count the cars on Nigerian roads on one’s finger tips, Stella studied Medicine at the University of Nigeria Nsukka. A year later, she stepped into the NNPC and rose through the ranks to the top.
But the charming Abuja-based health/wellness consultant would never forget the pains of the Bellview plane crash that took her husband’s life, as well as others that made her to retire into caring for people and touching lives.
“I used to be an active young girl,” she said, reliving her growing up days. “I was an athlete and I represented my schools. I come from a disciplined family, because my parents were primarily teachers. As you would know, the teachers of old were really strict. But if I were not brought up by the type of parents that I had, I am not sure that I would be where I am today.
“I have seen contemporaries who had it easy when we were young. I actually used to envy them in those days. But today, I thank God because there is no basis for comparison. I was really lucky that God planted me in my parent’s family.”
“My father retired as a Zonal Education Inspector in Imo State. My mom was originally a school mistress. She then went through more courses in the University of Nigeria, Usukka, using the proximity of the university and ending up as an Administrative Officer there.
“When my father retired, we had to move from Nsukka to Imo State. It was the period when Chief Sam Mbakwe was the governor. So, my mother worked in the office of the governor until she also retired.”
Stella Chijioke’s memory of childhood was that of mixed feeling. “Like I said, I used to envy some of my mates then, because they were free. They could go anywhere. Whenever they came to visit me at home, I was always busy doing one thing or another. I was not allowed the frivolity of moving around visiting people. My father would ask you what is happening there that you want to see. He would ask you next about your home work. As a teacher, he drilled the six of us and today we are the better for it.”
So what did that teach the young Stella?
“That taught me that you don’t take life for granted; that it is what you sow that you reap. That if you really prepare for life and you have good help, that is, someone or people who lead you in the right path, there is no way your life will not be good, even more that you imagine. With the help of God, any little effort you make yields good result. So, hard work pays. That is the summary of what my early years taught me.
“And in life, you must have integrity. You may get away with some bad things, but someday, the real you will show up and people who didn’t figure out who you are will find out. But a clean transparent life is better any day.”
With parents who were constantly on the move, Stella’s education started in Government School, Uyo, where her father was the principal of the Government Teachers Training College.
“That is the school that was later turned into the University of Uyo. From there, we came on transfer to Nsukka,” she said.
On a scholarship from the government of Eastern Nigeria, Stella left for Rivers State, to an elite missionary school in those days.
“I later gained admission into the University of Nigeria, Nsukka to study Medicine and was also privileged to gain scholarship. I had my post graduate degree at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, in Occupation and Environmental Medicine under the umbrella of the NNPC. After I graduated for my first degree in 1978, the youth service year followed. Then I got a job at NNPC. But the employment actually came one year later.
I had spent that year working at the Port Harcourt Nursing Home. The irony of it all is that when the job came, we didn’t know it was a privileged job,” she said.
Stella is proud to have moved around Nigeria. “I used to speak Ibibio,” she said proudly. “Of course, there is nothing a person from Nsukka would say that I would not understand. So, I was able to speak some more languages. I did one year housemanship at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital in Lagos too before my youth service year in Rivers State.”
For Stella, Rivers State remains a place she would not forget in a hurry. That was where she met her husband; the man who turned out to be everything to her. And even after he died in the ill fated Bellview plane crash on October 22, 2005, Stella refused to let go of his memory.
It is many years ago, but her voice still betrays emotion when she talks about it.
She said: “Rivers State was where I met my husband and that was where I got my NNPC job. Even when my husband got a transfer to Lagos for two years, we were still living in Port Harcourt where I had all my children. And that was because I was working at the refinery, the Eleme Petro-chemical, the town clinic which was called the zonal headquarters.
“I was rising along the line. Before long, I was made Manager, Medical Services and posted to Benin to head the zone before I was later appointed a General Manager (Occupation and Environmental Health Dept) and transferred to Abuja. That was the position I retired from.”
“Though I lost my mum, the loss of my husband in the Bellview plane crash was a turning point for me! It was too much for me. I went into menopause by shock. It just stopped, till today, it has not flowed!”
“My husband was a petroleum engineer. He was working with Elf Petroleum, which is now called Total Nigeria Limited. He was one of the general managers. He was actually coming from Port Harcourt. He was an avid golfer. He had gone there for an occasion held by the golf club. He was supposed to have come back with Sosoliso or Chanchangi, which had Abuja-Port Harcourt flights then. Bur because he was a golfer, he said Port Harcourt golf club was having an event, so he went.
“After 4 pm, he called to say he was still coming to Abuja. I told him that he must have missed the two direct flights. He replied that there would be a flight in Lagos to Abuja. He assured me that he would catch a flight to Abuja that evening from Lagos; that there was a Bellview flight for 7.45 pm, which he could catch that night. And he did.”
Recalling her late husband’s last moments, she said: “My husband had bought books for my daughter who came from Ghana where she was studying Medicine at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. They had just finished one of the crucial examinations in Medical School. After that, they were to go into the clinical year.
“She had sent a list of the books she needed and Daddy had said he would buy them. I had asked her how she was going to get them, and she told me that her dad could send them to her in Ghana by courier. So I asked him about the books and he said he would bring them to Abuja. That was when I told him that he had missed the two flights and he told me that he would get a flight from Lagos.
“When he got to Lagos, he called me to tell me. And when he boarded too, he called. When we spoke on the phone, he asked what I was doing and I told him I was cooking soup. He asked what soup and I told him okro. He asked me to make it green as usual. He told me to freeze it so that he could take it with him on Monday morning when he would be going back. That was our normal routine anyway.”
“He also told me to send the driver to the airport. It was the driver who called from the airport and told us to on the television. I asked why and asked asked if the plane had landed. He insisted that I switch on the television.
“I told my daughter what the driver had said, so she said we should on the television. When we did, we saw breaking news on the screen and then the voice came that the Bellview plane was missing. I was dazed. I got up, sat down, got up, sat down.
“I again called the driver to tell me what was happening at the airport. He told me that they had been called to the tarmac. What followed was the longest 20 minutes of my life, as I waited for him to call me. He didn’t call me after that time. I had to call him again.
“By the time I called him, he was crying. By this time, the scrolling bar on the television screen was already updating us regarding the news about the missing plane. Sooner, the information came that the Bellview plane got missing from the radar seven minutes after take-off and all efforts to locate it had proved abortive. For me, it was the beginning of the end.”
“I stuck to myself. The kind of work that I was doing also encouraged me to become a recluse. After my husband died, I went into depression. I lost interest in life. I was asking myself why I was still here. Okay the children are here and I have a job to keep, I kept reminding myself.
“I lost interest in people. I was not going to parties or any other social event. My routine became from my desk at work, to the house and then to the church. I was such a triangular person. I had no extra activity. I didn’t have anyone who came around to visit! I was not going out to see anyone too.
“Half of the time when I was alone in the office, I had tears as my companion. I was locked up all to myself. I had only myself to share my pains with. I was not even going to the market. I did not really want to see anybody. I was only seeing the patients who I had to see officially. And that routine is not good for anybody. It was not good for me too.
My level of activity dropped tremendously. When my husband was alive, we used to socialise a lot. We were good dancers. But all that stopped.”
As if that was not enough bad news, Stella Chijioke became challenged healthwise. And it was not the kind commonly heard of. “What happened was that my spinal cord collapsed! I had to be evacuated in 2008 from this country to India. My spine had to be operated upon and re-done. Right now, there are so many things that I cannot do.”
But what could have led to this unusual kind of health challenge?.
“That is why I am preaching that people should rectify their lifestyles. What led to it is what I am today preaching against as a wellness consultant. We should not take our good health for granted. What happened was that the level of my normal activity went down. From being an active girl, an athlete representing institutions, I was suddenly sitting behind the desk to work for years?
“Also, I went through four quick pregnancies. I delivered four children within three years and five months. My mum shouted when I had the fourth one. She told me, ‘you are a doctor, why are you doing this to yourself?’ I told her that was how the children came. She said, ‘I don’t expect you to say that. It is not how it should be done. You will pay for it.’ Eventually, I paid for it.”
“After each pregnancy, the hormones did not go down before I took in again. I was building up hormones again for another pregnancy. So I was returning from each maternity leave, with a new pregnancy. I did that four times. One baby is like ten months older than the next one. And it was unbelievable, but it happened.
In later years, I met people who knew us in Port Harcourt, who asked me if the children survived. I told them that they all survived. Many of them said they survived because I am a doctor. But my abdominal muscles got weaker and weaker.”
“My abdominal muscles got weak and they are the things that support the spine. They had been stretched beyond the elastic limit. When my second daughter was going for her master’s programme in Birmingham in the UK, I think I dragged some of the heavy boxes. That was when my spinal cord snapped.
“I didn’t even feel it that day. It was after I had come back. I stayed two days with her in London, went again with her to Birmingham and stayed another two days. Those days were days of dragging boxes up and down. That happened between September and October.
“When I got back, by December, the pain came. That was when I did an MIR, which was when it was seen to have collapsed. I had to travel to the East for a wedding. Sitting through that long journey started the pain. I was evacuated to India where I had a major operation. Now I am not allowed to take a flight longer than two hours, and I must be lying down.”
If Dr. Stella Chijioke thought that those two episodes were enough, the icing on the cake was just ahead.
She said: “Six weeks after I came back from my spinal cord operation in India, I was kidnapped from my father’s house in Imo State. I was with my younger sister. We went for my mum’s memorial service. I had become all of a sudden a kidnap victim. The ransom was an outrageous amount.
“My driver managed to call my colleagues at work to alert them on what had happened. It was a sad time for my organisation and they did not take it lightly. The management immediately went into a rescue plan with the Federal Government in an operation which involved the highest security network in the country as at then.”
“After few days, we were traced to a location between the borders of Akwa Ibom and Abia State, in an uncompleted building. I later heard that the Federal Government gave only two options. And that was, ‘find her or find her!’
By Saturday of that same week, the government task force had already penetrated the village where we were located. The kidnappers were guarding the house where we were kept. There were no windows. There was a roof but not completely done. It was at the fringe of a forest. The village itself was not developed. You can only go in there through a track. By the second day, they threw in bread and two bags of pure water to us. We hurriedly gobbled it because we were hungry. That was Thursday morning.”
“By Monday, the government task force under disguise had zeroed down to where we were held captive, through information networking. By Tuesday morning, we were rescued after a shoot-out. After that, I had to leave the country for a while. It was a nasty experience that made me to fear for this country.
“As to whether they got money from us, they couldn’t get any ransom. But they took some money which was with us when they kidnapped us from the house. That day, they were shooting everywhere.
“Abroad, I had to go and see a psychotherapist. He took me to those that handled the prisoners of war for America. When two of them saw me, they asked, ‘Madam, how did you survive mentally?’ I answered that I did not know. They said, ‘your husband died suddenly, your children are not with you. All of them are in school. You just got through a major surgery, and then a kidnap trauma. Did you see a psychotherapist when each of these happened?’ I said no.
“Then they said, ‘after all these, you are still mentally balanced. You are defying the textbooks!’ They said that this kind of thing does not happen to an individual all at once or one after the other; that one or two of them is enough to derail any human being. So they asked me why I did not see a psychotherapist and I told them that in Nigeria, we do not see a psychotherapist; we either have the everyday doctors or psychiatrists. So, if the everyday doctors can’t handle your case, you end up in the asylum. So they laughed and said that I even still had a sense of humour. Well, I told them that I didn’t mean it as humour, but that it is the truth.’
So, when Stella retired, she had already made up her mind on what she would do. “Though initially I wondered what I would do at retirement, I knew that I did not want to set up a full clinic. I didn’t have the time for that. I knew it would entail a lot. Setting up a full clinic would mean being there 24 hours for the patients, and at 60, with my health challenges, I knew I shouldn’t do it. I know that there is no need biting more than I can chew.
“Most of the clinics in Abuja are owned by people who are younger, in practice and in age, so I wouldn’t want to be competing with them. What prompted me into caring for people’s wellness was also because I had aged parents. I believed that charity should begin at home.”
So, Stella Chijioke put together Ultimate Wellness Ltd, an outfit that creates awareness, guides and cares for members of the public, advising them on how to spend money when they are not ill.
“We are not treating people when they are ill per se. We want to let you know the vital information that where you live, what you eat and what you do contribute a lot to the disease, sickness or illness that you have now or would have later in life. We are not your primary physician but we tell you that there are things you must do to change the pattern of things around you, that will make you healthy, and this is doable.
“I take people through a wellness plan. Everybody can be managed better, notwithstanding the illness such as diabetes, hypertension, stroke, obesity and so on. Somebody can still have a fulfilling life despite having all these sickness. For instance, acute diabetes can be reversed and the blood sugar brought down and lifestyle changed. This has been proven.”
To prove it further, Dr. Chijioke sets a good example of a healthy lifestyle. “In time past, I did not use to take breakfast. I thought that was a good way of managing my weight. But now, I know that it is not the best way. I got to know at NNPC when I was putting this together. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If there is any meal not to be missed, it is breakfast.
“The actual meal to be missed for me is dinner. When you eat heavy meal and carry it to bed, that is when the body does all the storing, which you don’t need. I have late lunch at 4pm or 5pm. It you are between the age of 45 and 60, you have to reduce the quantity of your food intake. You eat smaller quantities of food. Don’t overload food in your tummy.
“I drink lots of water. As women, we are all expected to have eight to ten glasses of water every day. For men, it is ten glasses of water every day. That is the minimum. In hot Africa, we are expected to drink even more because we are always expending. Water helps us to detoxify from the environmental, natural toxins and even those we get from food and drinks.
“For drinks, I take fresh fruits which must not be stored in the refrigerator for long. For exercise, which is very important, I get it from dancing. These days, I do that in the church. People do not know why I dance that much in church, but the truth is, it is a form of exercise for me. It is a form of activity, which my body needs so much. Of course, I also dance in church to glorify God.
“Now I am involved. I am beginning to go out, to socialise. I used to be a dancer. My husband and I attended parties together a lot. And any party we went, we were the life of the party. We used to do floor ‘dance’ shows at parties, with people surrounding us and clapping.
“I have been to parties lately. Even at wedding these days, I have started dancing again. Right now, I cannot go to night parties because I don’t have a companion. But I have resumed my dancing.”
As a woman who has gone through these life traumas, what is her advice to people who may be facing challenges? “My answer is that they must have faith in God who makes the difference. You have to have God as pillar to hold you at such times when all fails. Hold on to Him, because He is already holding unto you.”