Major Davis Okoroji died with his uncle Major E.O. Amechi Okoro on their way back to Jaji, Kaduna State in 1992. Both officers hailed from Onicha Ezinihitte, in the Mbaise area of Imo State.The C- 130 Hercules military aircraft that was supposed to fly them to Kaduna, crashed shortly after take – off from the Murtala Mohammed Airport.

Okoro had something with Kaduna. A very reliable source told me his story. “Okoro was said to be a teenage Biafran soldier who was captured at the war front(by Federal soldiers) and taken to Kaduna for training,” he said.

At home in Mbaise, he was presumed dead having not returned from battle. Then a miracle happened. “Some months after the war, by which time he was assumed to have died in action, he surfaced alive at home”. What a lucky chap.

Quite sad that Okoro did not die in the battle field. He survived the Civil War as a boy, only to be lost in peace time while undergoing training at the Command and Staff College, Jaji. And he died with his nephew, Okoroji. The family would be regretting having two members in the Army.

Former Military Administrator of Jigawa and Kwara States, Col. Rasheed Shekoni survived the crash, thanks to his wife who drove him back home when it appeared the flight would be delayed. Tears flowed when it was realised that the flight eventually took off.His cousin, Maj. B. Daranijo, who had followed them to the airport but stayed behind to join the flight, died.

One particular story got me me totally confused. Someone sent me a note after reading my earlier piece on the crash, that Maj. E. W. Ekanem, though listed as one of the victims, did not make the trip. He died much later, in Lagos.

“I don’t think Maj. Ekanem was on the C – 130 flight. His name was on the manifest but he chose to drive his IBB Spirit (Peugeot 504) back to Jaji. He was however murdered a few years later, in his residence, somewhere in Lagos,” I was informed.

The sender wrote, “I was close to the family when he served in Ibadan and we moved to Lagos about the same time. Dandy Las Palmas did not die in that crash. His last posting, as far as I knew, was at Apapa port and this was long after the crash.

“Eka and Otu, (Ekanem’s children) were born when we were both in Ibadan but I lost contact a long time ago. Nothing really to prove. If his course mates say he died in the crash, then that must be the official position and I suggest we go with them.”

Col. Sam Kofo was close to some of the victims. He could have been part of that Course 15 but service in Liberia with ECOMOG changed things. As an officer serving at the Ikeja Cantonment, Kofo was part of the burial party in Abuja.

We talked about Ekanem. He said,” Ekanem of S and T (Supply and Transport) died in the crash. Unless there was another Ekanem. Eka and Otu are his children and they live outside the country now. Their mom is also overseas”.

The list released by the Federal Government was as confusing. Ekanem, with Service number N/5474, was marked as belonging to the Nigeria Army Military Police (NAMP). And there was just one victim bearing that name. It would have been more difficult if we were talking of Adebayo. Two majors were so identified, Adedeji Owolabi Adebayo and V. A. Adebayo.

From the United States, Alex Tunwagun reminded me that he once shared the same room with Lt. Cdr.Chiamba Sheijir. “He was studying Business Administration. Chiamba was one of my room mates, A226, Jaja Hall, University of Lagos in the 1976/1977 session.There were six of us in that room.

“James Jukwe, from Benue State, Chiamba’s close friend, who studied Mass Communication and worked briefly with the British Broadcasting Corporation in Lagos before moving to the UK where he now lives, was one of us. Saduwa Ochuko and Shedrach Bolokor, from Delta (Bendel) State and Adetokunbo Williams, a graduate of English/French. He retired as a Permanent Secretary, in the Ogun State ministry of Information and resides in Abeokuta.”

Tunwagun continued : “We are still friends, Williams and I graduated from Premier Grammar School, Abeokuta, in 1973. Chiamba was in his final year, at Unilag. Saduwa and I were first year students. We accommodated James, Tokunbo and Shadrach. We called them Tenants. Athletes had the privilege of accomodation. I was a beneficiary. Adokiye Amiesimaka was my contemporary.”

Offiong Esua, another voice from the US, disclosed that Sqdr. Ldr. A. A. Ndule, was married to Winnie Inyang, daughter of renowned Lagos Dentist Dr. Inyang. Her brother, Capt. William Inyang, retired recently as a pilot.

Former majority leader of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Dr. Kayode Abdulwahab -Omotoshe reported for Herald newspapers in 1992. He was despatched to Karamajiji Military Cemetery to cover the burial.

“I was Government House, Ilorin correspondent in the days Mohammed Shaaba Lafiaji. The News Editor, Ademola Adetola asked me to interview their Commandant, Maj. Gen Alwal Kazir, who was a former governor of Kwara State. 

“After I secured his attention, former Inspector General of Police, Muhammed Gambo Jimeta interrupted that I wanted to sell my newspaper at the back of the horror. As I tried to explain myself, Gen. Kazir  distracted him and winked at me to escape. I just bolted but that was after I had picked  some exclusive stories”.

Former Army Chief, Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika and the Sultan of Sokoto, lost some of their Nigerian Defence Academy Regular Course 18 mates. Maj. P.U. Bassey, Senior Under Officer and Sword Bearer at their Passing Out Parade was one of the victims.