The Nation Newspaper

Tag: stowaway

  • Stowaway found dead in Arik Air plane in Johannesburg

    Stowaway found dead in Arik Air plane in Johannesburg

    The lifeless body of a stowaway was on Wednesday, November 30, 2016 found in the main wheel well of one of Arik Air’s A330-200 aircraft at the Oliver Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg.

    Arik spokesman, Adebanji Ola disclosed Wednesday.

    The aircraft, he said operated the scheduled Lagos-Johannesburg flight that departed the Murtala Muhammed International Airport on Tuesday, November 29, 2016 and arrived Johannesburg same day.

    He said Engineers of South African Airways Technical facility at the Oliver Tambo International Airport where the aircraft was scheduled for a routine maintenance check discovered the body of the stowaway during inspection phase.

    He said Investigations are ongoing to determine how the stowaway found his way into the aircraft’s main wheel well.

  • Navy arrests 11 for attempting to stowaway

    The Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) BEECROFT has arrested an impersonator and 11 persons for allegedly attempting to stow away in a vessel to Europe.

    NNS BEECROFT, Commanding Officer Commodore Abraham Adaji, who made this known yesterday in Apapa, Lagos, named the suspects as Akinwunmi Jeflando, Pope Olu, Jacob James, Samuel Jodge, Ade Samadin, Dan Gogo, James Akinbami, Paul Oguns, Joseph Emmanuel, Stephen Cooper and Jalo Cooper.

    Adaji said: “Preliminary investigations revealed that the arrested persons boarded the vessel, CITRON, through the rudder trunk access manhole in a bid to travel with the vessel to Europe.

    “The suspects were arrested around 12. 30 a.m. on March 11 for illegally boarding Merchant Vessel CITRON, which berthed at Capital Oil Jetty, Apapa, Lagos.

    “They were detected and subsequently arrested by our patrol boat,” Adaji said.

    The suspects have been handed over to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).

    Olu, one of the suspects, said he was not happy with his standard of living, adding that this prompted him to attempt to enter Europe illegally.

    Another suspect, Cooper blamed his attempt to stowaway on frustration.

    A NIS representative, Mr Lekan Olagunju, a Chief Superintendent, received the stowaways from the Navy.

    He said that investigations would continue to ascertain their nationalities before their prosecution.

  • Ethiopia stowaway gets to Sweden in airliner’s hold

    An Ethiopian man hoping to get asylum in Sweden has been found in the hold of an airliner after a flight from Addis Ababa to Stockholm.

    He was handed over to Swedish police after a medical check at Arlanda airport. His health is said to be good.

    The hold of the Ethiopian Airlines jet would have got very cold during the long flight. There was a stopover in Rome, but he is believed to have come all the way from Addis Ababa.

    Such cases are rare, officials said.

    According to Radio Sweden, the man is an Ethiopian, born in 1991, and intends to seek asylum in Sweden. The plane landed at 06:53 local time (04:53 GMT).

    “When the staff were going to unload the baggage, they found the man. He was in good shape, but we made him see a nurse,” said Henrik Klefve, spokesman for airport operator Swedavia.

    Swedish police officer Anders Faerdigs said “he says he works at the airport in Addis Ababa and he had a badge with him.

    “That’s how he had been able to move freely around the airport, reach the plane and get in the cargo hold.”

    Police say he may have been in a section of the cargo hold that is warmer, and where animals are transported.

    Swedavia said only authorised personnel would normally get access to the hold.

  • Stowaway on your emotional flight

    KAINE was in the departure hall at the airport when a jolly good fellow walked up to her with a smile. The dude in question looked great at first sight but somehow he did not fit into her picture of an ideal guy. As if he was reading her mind, he simply introduced himself as Terry. Did he make any impression at this point? No, he didn’t! Reason: Her heart had been flung out of emotional flights, from heights that you just cannot imagine and there was no space for love.

    The last straw was actually unbearable and her heart was battered beyond recognition by the pilot. Interestingly, our dear Stanley is not the type who takes no for an answer. Babes hardly say no because the dude in question looks good, has sugar-coated tongue and the figure of love. What exactly is going on in her emotional black box? He wonders. She is bleeding terribly on the inside; memories of crashed relationships, memories of cheaters as confidants and emotional hijackers are vivid.

    Not again, this heart is certainly not ready to fly. The Romeo also discovered that she was lost in her thoughts and decided to repeat his name. Somehow, it got her thinking. Two can fly? Not yet! It is a fifty-fifty chance and she naturally began to explore the possibilities. Why not! You can fly to places with a guy whose name sounds like ‘terrific’. But again, wait a minute, this same name sounds like ‘terrible’, you know. Confusion galore. Handsome dudes like this type often go around with lots of extra luggage.

    Should she give it a try? Why is she wasting so much time making up her mind? The truth is that you can’t really blame her, she is still haunted by the past. For Kaine, romance is always good only in storybooks and novels. Almost every romantic adventure has shown that the love flight is not her strongest point. After a few crashes, she changed directions and played the fool in order to fly lovingly to chosen emotional destinations.

    Sadly, the last adventure was stalled by her beautiful half sister, Amanda, a few months ago. So, how did she get into the emotional mess? You ask. Amanda came home after Youth Service and needed a place to stay. Having a large heart, Kaine took her in and they literally shared everything together. Amanda, unlike her sister, was very sociable and had a number of hearts in her kitty. This naturally makes her no threat, but, unfortunately, Kaine was wrong. Secretly, she fell for her sister’s heartthrob and co-piloted the emotional jet.

     Haba! Isn’t she an emotional sadist? Couldn’t she have looked elsewhere instead of playing around with someone else’s feelings? The harm has been done and the emotional flight has been grounded by this desperate half sister (stowaway). The plane (the guy) has been abandoned and was remorseful for being an accomplice. He pleaded for a second chance. Unfortunately, the motivation to fly (love) was gone. Dealing with betrayal, blackmail or anger can be terrible for hearts that love totally. However, it is very important to move on to avoid carrying around a belly filled with animosity (stranded).

    Interestingly, some lovebirds have actually learnt to fly and perch in the right place to avoid being causalities in an emotional crash.

    The big question is why would anybody think of suicide or murder just because you’ve lost a heart? Of course, it is a sad loss but it does not mean the end of the world. What should naturally come to mind is to move on and look for positive filler (s) for the vacuum created.

    A stoaway is obviously running from something, running to somewhere or just wants to get back at something. One of such cases was a woman who plotted with her boyfriend to gun down the man’s wife as the couple was walking with their toddler son on the street. That sad incidence happened about four years ago, but instead of achieving her emotional goals, it earned her a 30-year sentence in prison.

    Even if you love someone so much, there should be ways of winning that heart over. You don’t have to kill someone to get what you want, getting too desperate about someone you love would make you do something that would actually make that heart to detest being with you and this way your desperation would work against you.

     If you have found yourself at the emotional departure hall, please cheer up, make yourself happy and be consoled that it was meant to be that way. Don’t get worked up over what you cannot change or have control over.

    If you are the one who has broken emotional protocols, then it is better to search your soul, try and figure out what you have done wrong, apologise if you can and then get back to the emotional tarmac. Conversely, if you do not forgive those who hurt you, or those you think have hurt your emotions, then you are likely to get into more trouble. Here you would be dragging the emotional suitcase of ancient history, looking for flights that have been cancelled or crashed.

  • Teenager stowaway

    • More attention at airports will avert further incidents

    Security breaches have led to several cases of stowaways, especially teenage stowaways, at some of our airports. The most recent of such incident occurred at the private general aviation Execujet terminal of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on February 1, when the commanding pilot of an aircraft detected a teenage boy in the tyre compartment of the aircraft operated by Tag Aviation. The aircraft was said to have flown in a former Minister of Petroleum, Chief Dan Etete, into the Lagos Airport the previous night, and parked at the private hangar from where it was expected to take off on February 1 before the teenager, Samuel Ogundeyi, was caught in its tyre compartment.

    The teenager was said to have been discovered at about 12 noon when pilots of the aircraft marked M-MYNA were carrying out a routine inspection on it. When Ogundeyi was interrogated, he reportedly said that he was able to cross the L18 runway over to the Execujet facility located at the international wing of the airport at night when he “noticed there was no flight landing or taking off on the runway”. The teenager also confessed that he entered the hangar through the facility of the Headquarters, Air Defence Corps of the Nigerian Air Force located next to the Presidential VIP Lounge in the airport, on January 31, with the help of somebody he identified as his brother.

    Arrests of teenager stowaways , usually boys, are becoming worrisome, especially as the incidents were caused by security breach in our airports. A few years back, we had a similar case of a teenager stowaway who was arrested in Lagos.

    Indeed, we have had several other cases of security breaches at some of our airports. For instance, some animals had strayed into the runways while even vehicles had crashed into some of the areas within the airport complexes. These incidents are bad advertisement for the country’s airports as they portray them as insecure.

    We are particularly bothered about the circumstances driving young Nigerians to desperately want to leave the country for abroad without minding the attendant risk to their lives. On August 24, 2013, a teenager stowaway, Daniel Ohikhena, followed an Arik Air plane from Benin to Lagos, thinking the plane was going abroad. He said he was disappointed when he eventually found out that the plane landed in Lagos. Although we can understand the cases of adults trying to check out of the country (as symbolised by “Andrew”) for greener pastures, the cases of teenager stowaways may portray Nigeria as a difficult country to live in, even by teenagers probably as a result of neglect, poverty and squalor.

    This is despite the fact that attractive as the idea of going abroad for better life is, the risks are equally enormous, because all that glitters is not gold. After all, the bodies of stowaways have been found in aircraft while some of those who arrived their destinations abroad safely were shamefully deported.

    The government’s job appears well cut out for it as far as these twin issues of security at our airports and unemployment are concerned. First, we need to provide adequate security in our airports because these security breaches have grave implications for passengers, especially in these days of insurgency and terror. So, the Nigerian Air Force and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) should wake up to see to it that our airports are safe.

    And, in order to prevent further occurrences of teenager stowaways in our country, our government should try as much as possible to make life worth living for all Nigerians, irrespective of age, caste, creed or colour. That is the only way Ogundeyi’s incident would be the last.

  • I want to go home, stowaway teen pleads

    Daniel Ohikhena, the stowaway teenager, who hid on an Arik Air flight from Benin to Lagos, yesterday begged Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole to allow him return home to his family.

    The teenager, since his return from Lagos, has been in the Government House.

    The boy told The Nation that he was happy with the scholarship award offered him by a group, De Raufs.

    He said he did not know he took a risk when he hid in the plane’s wheel compartment.

    “I will not do it again. I did not know it was risky. I regret my action.

    “I want to go home. I am tired. I will be happy to train as an engineer,” Daniel said.

    He said he was terrified when he was arrested on arrival in Lagos. The teenager said he was well taken care of by officials of the Department of State Security (SSS).

    Daniel said even on return to Benin, he was being treated well with “good food”, but that since school has resumed he wants to go home.

    Asked if he was questioned in Lagos and since he was brought back to Benin the teenager answered in the affirmative. He said he returned to Benin by road with three armed security men.

    The government has secured admission in one of the state’s top secondary schools for the 13-year-old.

    Daniel was smartly dressed in a pair of blur jeans trousers, a grey T-shirt. His white rosary, which he wore on the controversial flight, was on his neck. He was all smiles.

    The governor said this when the Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), George Uriesi, and other FAAN Management team visited him yesterday.

    Oshiomhole said: “Without meaning to encourage anyone else, we decided to support him by sending him to one of the top secondary schools in the state, which is owned by the government.

    “The reason for opting for a boarding school is that we think that there is need to closely watch him.

    “He is an intelligent young boy with uncommon challenges, but one that has a vision. We had him examined by people who should know and the result confirmed that he is normal.

    “This incident was probably the kind of nudge we need to improve the facilities at our airports. You are never going to have all the money you need to do all you have to do. You should start from somewhere.”

    The governor added: “It is also a security issue that we do not have any runway security lights at the Benin Airport. It is a security issue because a plane can take off but when it is flying into the Benin airspace and it develops mechanical faults, it cannot land. You should take this as something more urgent.”

  • Stowaway teen returns to Edo

    Stowaway teen returns to Edo

    •Correctional facility for Daniel
    •I thought my son was abducted, says dad

    For the first time since August 24 when he made a daring flight in the tyre compartment of an Arik Air flight from Benin to Lagos, Daniel Oikhena, saw his mother, Evelyn, at the State headquarters of the Directorate of the State Security Services (DSS).

    Daniel, a Junior Secondary School (JSS) I pupil in Benin, Edo State capital, was released from DSS custody yesterday morning to officials of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Social Development.

    Mrs. Oikhena was informed of the processes her son would go through and later asked to go to the ministry for further briefing.

    It was gathered that the government planned to send Daniel to a correctional facility before being allowed to return to school. Several efforts to see him and his mother failed until information filtered in that Governor Adams Oshiomhole would meet with Daniel at 3:30pm.

    Daniel’s celebrity status was tested yesterday as government officials left their offices to catch a glimpse of the stowaway kid.

    He rode into the Government House in the same car with the DSS State Director, Bakori Tukur.

    Reporters were barred from recording Daniel’s entry as he was taken inside through a back door.

    Daniel’s father, Osaigbovo, made a surprise appearance at the Government House shortly after his son and wife were taken inside.

    He was not invited to join the meeting.

    Osaigbovo said he was a commercial bus driver and that he was told about the scholarship offer by his wife.

    The father, who was accompanied by some of his relatives, denied allegations that they showed up because of the scholarship offer.

    He said he has been taking care of his children contrary to the uncaring attitude of his wife.

    Osaigbovo (44) said he had a problem with his wife to whom he had been married for the past 20 years.

    He displayed a photograph of himself and two of his children during a family outing.

    “I came to tell the world that I am Daniel’s father. His mother and I had a misunderstanding last year. I did not leave my home. I invited my wife to join me but she said where I was staying was too far and she decided to stay away. It is a lie that I have not been taking care of my four children. We are not divorced.”

    On why he has been quiet about his son’s predicament, Osaigbovo said his wife asked him to calm down that she would take care of everything.

    “I went with her to the police station but she said I should keep quiet.

    “I was shocked when I heard the news. Initially, I thought my son was kidnapped but I thank God he is alive. I am here to make sure my son is really alive. I am not married to another woman. My wife refused to give my number to the DSS when they asked for it .

    “My son likes movies. He is quiet and easy going.”

    A volunteer group, De RAUFs, which had indicated interest in Daniel’s welfare was at the Government House.

    Represented by Yinka Muyiwa, head of its legal team, De RAUFs said it came to Edo State to reaffirm the scholarship it earlier gave the lad to continue his education up to university level.

    Muyiwa said: “The boy did not commit any offence and as such should not be detained any longer.

    “The boy had to do what he did because the system failed him. There was no crime involved in what he did as far as we are concerned.”

     

     

  • Stowaway boy: Siblings begs for his release

    Stowaway boy: Siblings begs for his release

    Eight days into the dramatic discovery of a teenage boy hidden inside the wheel compartment of an Arik Air which flew him to Lagos, the siblings of the 13-year- old Junior Secondary School (JSS) 2 student, Daniel Oikhena, yesterday, appealed to the concerned authority to release him.

    Desmond, 9, the immediate younger brother and Kelvin, 6, who said they slept in the same room when Daniel left that fateful day, passionately appealed to the security agencies to let their brother go. They said he acted in ignorance.

    Speaking on behalf of the family, Desmond said he was not surprised when the news came to them last Sunday that Daniel was in Lagos.

    “Oga, I want my brother released to us. We are missing him and want him back home. My family is not happy over the continued detention of our brother.

    “He is just a child and must have acted out of ignorance; we need his brotherly love and guidance. We are appealing to those responsible for his detention to please consider us because we have no money to fight any case.”

     

     

     

     

     

  • Teenage stowaway

    Teenage stowaway

    •Aviation authorities should accept responsibility for the shame that attended  the security breach at Benin Airport

    The gripping and pathetic story of how a 13-year-old Junior Secondary School Student beat the security system at the Benin Airport to hide in the tyre compartment of an Arik Flight to Lagos last Saturday has once again exposed the inefficiency of the security personnel in the country. Daniel Ohikhena, who, it turned out, had nursed the dream of one day travelling by air to the United States of America, believed that the flight was US-bound and saw it as a dream come true. He hid in a bush near the airport, waited patiently until the aircraft was about to depart Benin, and then moved stealthily to fly free of charge.

    It is unfortunate that Nigeria is once again in the news for the wrong reason. As a gateway to countries and major cities, the news of the teenage stowaway has travelled very wide, thus contradicting the image being painted that much has been accomplished in the trumpeted reform package of the aviation sector. Since 2011 when the Jonathan administration was inaugurated, billions of Naira has been committed to remodelling of the airports.

    Last Saturday’s incident has shown that we are still many steps away from attaining the desired level of safety in a country confronted with such serious security challenges as the Boko Haram insurgency in the Far North, the communal and religious clashes in the North Central, armed robbery in the South West and the incessant kidnap raids in the South East and the South West.

    The Ohikhena venture was not the first time the attention of the authorities and the general public would be called to the porous security outlay at our airports. In July 2005, stray cows found their way to the Port Harcourt International Airport runway. One actually hit an Air France aircraft without claiming the life of any of the 200 passengers on board. However, the aircraft was damaged. The news made headlines throughout the aviation world and the Obasanjo government pledged to prevent a recurrence.

    But, in March 2011, a Hawker 850 aircraft that had taken the vice presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mr. Fola Adeola, to the Bauchi Airport was confronted by a similar scenario. Goats and sheep found their way to the tarmac, ran across the runway and threatened the safe landing of the plane. Again, as usual, government promised it would never happen again.

    We find it difficult to share the confidence exuded by the General Manager, Corporate Communications of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr. Yakubu Datti, who said, “as a result of the incident in Benin, we have further tightened our risk amelioration procedure to ensure that a similar incident does not occur.” Should the authorities wait for such incidents before adopting and applying rules and procedures in operation in other countries?

    The Federal Government should go beyond propaganda in ensuring the safety and security of the millions of Nigerians and foreigners who use our airports. We find the blame game by FAAN and the management of Arik Air, following the incident unacceptable, and urge the aviation authorities to accept full responsibility.

    It is incredible that the movement of the boy was noticed, yet the security personnel and the control tower failed to act according to best practices that could have averted the situation. The aviation ministry should ensure, as a matter of priority, that the perimeter fencing of the four major international airports commenced in 2011 is completed in no time and that all others should not be left out. The fund accessed from the World Bank to upgrade infrastructure in our airports must be deployed for the purpose if Nigeria is to be saved the embarrassment of cattle, goats, sheep and stowaways straying into restricted areas of the airports.

    The orientation of our young ones should be made a priority by relevant government and non-governmental organisations. Many of them regard USA and Europe, through dreary eyes, as El Dorado. They thus become desperate to leave for those countries. It is high time government reversed the trend.

     

  • Stowaway’s action stirs fresh security debate

    Stowaway’s action stirs fresh security debate

    How did he get into the wheel of the Lagos-bound Arik Air plane undetected at the Benin Airport in Edo State last Saturday? Some say thay saw him going under the plane, yet nothing was done to fish him out until the plane took off and landed in Lagos. Did he do it alone or was he aided? KELVIN OSA OKUNBOR reports.

    SOMETHING must have wrong. What went wrong remains the question. If nothing had not gone wrong, tenager Daniel Ihekina, would not have accessed the wheel well of an Arik Air plane to stow away.

    Since that incident, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and Arik Air have been bickering over what went wrong. None wants to accept blame.

    While FAAN is blaming the airline for the lapse, Arik is pointing fingers at the authority. It challenged the authority to explain how the teenager beat security checks at the Benin Airport in Edo State to hide in the wheel well of a plane.

    Arik said: ”We are worried by the incessant security lapses at our airports. We are appealing to the management of FAAN to immediately address the problem.”

    FAAN Managing Director George Uriesi said the authority has taken steps to ensure that all airports are secured through the phased airport perimeter fencing that started a few years.

    He said the government’s assessment tests have been carried out to block leakages, adding that FAAN is training its personnel on how to secure the airports.

    FAAN’s General Manager, Corporate Communication (FAAN), Mr Yakubu Dati, said perimeter fencing remains one of the cardinal areas in the airport infrastructure project, saying since 2011, the authority has worked out a schedule for the fencing.

    He cited airports where the operational and non-operational areas have been completed, to include Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, Margeret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar, and the Port Harcourt International Airport.

    Dati said the authority had acquired some operational vehicles for its security personnel to carry out surveillance on the airside, to prevent interference.

    The personnel were being trained, adding there is huge investment in technology.

    A security expert Babatunde Olu said FAAN should de-emphasise physical security and focus on intelligence gathering and use of technology.

    “The security protocols implemented at any airports are not only those things you can see with your eyes, or hear; a lot evolve from a well-articulated and approved national security programme, which is a resultant document based on a painstakingly documented security risk assessment and safety management system.”

    He said the training of security staff and other security operatives was also required.

    Last year, security agencies devised ways of securing the airports. The personnel from FAAN, security unit, Nigeria Police, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Customs Service, State Security Service, National Civil Defence Corps and the Nigeria Air Force promised to redouble their efforts at improving security.

    Deputy Commissioner of Police, Airport Command, Mr Haliru Gwandu, said the synergy among the agencies must be strengthened to keep potential unauthorised persons at bay from the airport.

    Gwandu called for more logistics for the Police to do their job, especially in perimeter patrol, arrest of miscreants and other unlawful interferences on the land and airside.

    He appealed to the authorities to put the right pegs in the right holes to avoid compromise among security agencies, adding that security is everyone’s duty.

    Other participants called for the deployment of the latest security technologies to assist airport security agencies achieve success in protecting the airports and its teeming passengers.