A four-year-old girl who almost got drowned in the Oke-Afa canal during the January 2002 bomb explosion at Ikeja cantonment has taken to social media to share updated photos.

Her 13-month-old brother was, however, not so lucky, he drowned in the canal.

18 years after the tragic incident Ifeoma Ndionyemma, who is the only surviving child of her parents, has shared newspaper publications that featured stories of her survival in the canal.

Recall that on Sunday January 27, 2002, the city of Lagos was thrown into a turmoil following the accidental detonation of bombs from the armoury of the Ikeja Cantonment in Lagos which claimed thousands of lives.

The armoury which was said to contain “high calibre bombs” went up in flames around 6 pm resulting in a series of explosions in and around the cantonment.

The explosions affected areas up to 50 km. away from the scene of the incident, mostly affected were residents of Ikeja and Oshodi, the closest to the cantonment.

Following fears from the sporadic explosions which was already raining down artillery shells over thousands of homes, panicking residents of the cantonment and Oshodi areas started scampering for safety and fled to Ajao Estate along the Muritala Mohammed International airport road end of Oshodi/Isolo Local Government Area.

In their attempt to cross the canal demarcating Ajao Estate from Oke-Afa in Isolo, many drowned in the canal and about 700 people reportedly died at the scene.

In one of the publications shared by

On the 18th year remembrance of the explosion, Ifeoma took to her Instagram page to share a 2002 Punch Newspaper publication with her four-year-old photo on the front page with the headline:

“How girl, 4, survived in canal.

“…13 month-old brother drowned.”

Another Punch Newspaper publication she shared, the then Vice President Atiku Abubakar was seen in a photo on the front page carrying four-year-old Ifeoma as he condoled with her parents who were also in the photo.

She wrote:

In a 2018 post spotted by WuzupNigeria on her IG page, Ifeoma wrote:

“The past is but a story told!! and the future has been written in GOLD ?? Today mark’s 16years I escaped death !! It would have been too young to die ? But God changed my story (27/1/2002) during the bomb blast that happened in Ikeja cantonment, when I was just 3+years old. that took the lives of millions of souls including that of my kid brother ??, and left me the only surviving child among all those that were drowned on that day at the Canal .. so many lives were lost, properties on that day ???

“But here I am today thanking God for he has preserved me ?????? because he knows he has a grater plan for me,which I haven’t fulfilled in earth ????.. RIP to those souls that were lost including that of my brother may God console them (even tho the government fulfill Their promises? may God still touch their heart for them to remember us and fulfill their promises) January 27 2002.”

 

 

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A post shared by I.F.E.O.M.A?snapchat:soffy_ify (@ify_eve) on Jan 27, 2020 at 12:24am PST