WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2011-01-04 Time: 07:00:02 Posted By: News Poster
By Olasunkanmi Akoni
Friday September 26, 2010 made it exactly 18 years after the death of military officers in the C-130 plane crash on September 26, 1992. That air crash at Ejigbo, Lagos shook Nigeria to its foundation as all the passengers died, with 173 bodies found later and 27 missing.
The air tragedy left over 200 young Nigerian women widows (most of them less than 30 years) and severalNigerian children (including those in the womb) fatherless. On this day, many families lost their breadwinners in one fell swoop.
On that black Saturday, Nigeria lost a generation of intelligent and vibrant young military officers not to war but to human error of a plane crash.
Following the tragedy, the Federal Government of Nigeria promised to compensate families of the deceased. But to what extent that has been fulfilled still remains unclear.
After the burial on October 5, 1992, the late General Sani Abacha addressed the families of the deceased and promised that government would compensate them as contained in the terms and conditions of service of the Armed Forces. He added then that a panel of enquiry would be set up to look into the cause of the crash.
State governments were directed to provide housing for the widows of the victims in their states of origin. Acting on this directive, Ogun, Oyo, Lagos, Osun and Ondo states immediately provided the accommodation.
Cross River through its governor, Clement Ebri then pledged support of N50, 000 and automatic scholarship for the children of the victims up to university level. Non-indigenous officers who served in the State got N25, 000.
Most states in the North, however, failed to provide accommodation relief to the widows. Mrs. Useni, it was learnt, was squatting along the Hospital Road, Jos with her five children. Her plight was similar to that of seven others widows most of whom were unemployed. And for feeding and maintenance of their families they lived on the goodwill of sympathisers and Nigerian Army Officers’ Wives Association, NAOWA.
In 1994, a directive was issued from the office of the Chief of Defence Staff that letters should be given to all the widows to their various state administrators for accommodation. This according, Mrs. Ukagha, a widow was not the terms of the promise. While some of the state administrators responded positively, some shut their doors against the widows.
In Benue State, dilapidated houses were allocated to the widows. Abia State would only provide house if widows provide lands. In fact, most of the widows and their children were thrown out of their various barracks even before accommodations were provided outside the barracks for them.
Apart from the disregard to the terms of conditions of service, the widows were also denied their husbands’ gratuities; the Peugeot cars given to military officers of the rank of Captain and above were denied some of those whose husbands were not privileged to receive before the crash.
After suffering in silence for nine years, the widows represented by Mrs. Hadiza Pindar, Doorshima Ada’a, Fianca Odache and Nwano Eze-Ukagha petitioned the Human Rights Violation Commission headed by Justice Chukwudifu Oputa for redress. In the petition, they demanded among other things for:
*Implementation of terms and condition of service of the Armed Forces to wit sections 331 to 335. That the military should implement conditions applicable to Federal Government scholarship students. Widows who remain unmarried and the children should be paid the officers’ entitlements.
The Army agreed to have an out of court settlement with the families of the C-130 plane crash. In the memorandum of agreement, they agreed to settle the families and the widows of the deceased in consonance with sections 331-335 of the Nigerian Army condition of service. With the agreement, the military would pay N15, 000 for primary school, N25, 000 for secondary school and N50, 000 for tertiary. But the agreement reached appeared to be a ruse.
It was fraught with deficiency right from the drafting stage. As it was read at the Oputa Panel, no date of implementation was mentioned. That was missing in the agreement. There was also silence over the issue of arrears of the entitlements.
Their hope in the present democratic dispensation seems dim as nothing positive has come from the government. The only thing the government has for their remembrance is a block of building named “September 26” at the Command and Staff College, Jaji.
Recently, President Goodluck Jonathan assured Nigerians of his preparedness to attend to the needs of many Nigerians as long as he is trusted and given the opportunity to lead the country after 2011 election.
He dropped a little dose of hope for all as he promised to attend to the plight of the 1992 Ejigbo swamp plane crash which killed several of the nation’s top military officers.
He communicated to his array of fans on the Facebook that the plight of the bereaved relatives touched his heart “most at this hour”, pledging that all their gratuities would be paid as he communicated his message to his admirers.
In a rare display of kindness, almost coinciding with the Christmas celebration, Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola on Thursday December 23, presented keys of a block of reconstructed six units of three-bedroom flats to widows and other beneficiaries whose husbands died in the 1992 Air_force C 130 plane crash.
The beneficiaries are: Miss Taiye Sodiq, Mrs Ifioma Clement, Miss Bisi Olusola, Mrs Olubunmi Osho, Mrs Grace Bamidele and Sir Kenneth Okonkwo.
It was indeed an atmosphere of palpable joy at the Ministry of Housing as the five widows and a non indigene, Okonkwo who was traded into the programme, were presented the keys to the newly completed Block of flats at the conference room of the Ministry of Housing.
Presenting the keys to six beneficiaries who were indigenes of Lagos State, the state Commissioner for Housing, Mr Dele Onabokun on behalf of Governor Fashola, said the gesture was part of the administration’s commitment to providing good and affordable accommodation to its citizens.
He added that the handing over of the keys to the beneficiaries was in fulfilment of the promise made by Fashola to reconstruct their erstwhile defected structures which were then on the verge of collapse.
Onabokun recalled that In September 2008, the Governor graciously ordered the demolition and reconstruction of a block of six flats occupied by the six widows at LSDPC Housing Estate Isolo.
He reiterated that the Ministry of Housing embarked upon the demolition and construction works in January 2009 and completed the construction of the building in November 2010.
Onabokun, therefore, urged them to cultivate the habit of maintaining the new structure, noting that government has once again demonstrated its preparedness to alleviate the sufferings of the less-priviledged in the state
Speaking on behalf of the widows, Mrs Ifioma Clement thanked the Governor for his kind gesture and the entire staff of the Ministry for the contribution in bringing it to reality.
An obviously elated Clement was full of prayers for Governor Fashola, saying only God can reward the gesture.
According to her, they noticed that the former flats given to them in 1998 by the military government of Col. Buba Marwa were defective and complained about it to the state government.
She stated that despite series of complaint, nothing was done and that with the help of a non-government organisation, NGO they met the present government to help them renovate the flats.
“Instead of renovating the buildings, Fashola directed that the buildings be pulled down and they gave us money to rent apartments and by September this year, the apartments were ready,” she said.
Original Source: 
Original date published: 3 January 2011
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201101040183.html?viewall=1