The Airport Command of the Nigeria
Police Force has arrested three teenagers for allegedly attempting to illegally
board some international flights in Lagos.
Commissioner of Police for the
command, Salahu Waheed, said the suspects, Lateef Popoola, 13; Amadi Joshua,
14; and Ukpabio Onyedikachi, 14, were arrested at different times at the
Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja.
Waheed, while handing over the
suspects to their mothers, said there was a need for their respective state
governments to rehabilitate them like the Edo State Government did with teenage
stowaway, Daniel Ihekina, who was arrested on August 24, 2013 after sneaking
into the tyre compartment of a Lagos-bound Arik plane.
He said, “These boys were found at
different times at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. Their aim was
to get into any plane and travel out of Nigeria.
“I decided to hand them over to their
parents so they will be well taken care of and stop dwelling on the fantasy
that you can just come into the airport, enter a plane and travel.
“Their state governments should try
to rehabilitate them just like Edo State did for the stowaway in Benin.
“Lateef Popoola is from Ogun State;
Amadi Joshua is from Ebonyi while Ukpabio Onyedikachi is from Abia State.
“The airport is not a place that you
can just come into and travel. There are formalities. We don’t want to see
these children here again.”
The teenagers, who spoke, said they had been nursing the idea of
travelling abroad, adding that they were not ready to execute their plans yet.
Lateef said he went to the tarmac to
observe how aeroplanes take off and land.
He said he was able to gain access to
the runaway by sneaking into an airport apron bus, but was arrested shortly
after alighting.
He said, “I am not in school, I
dropped out in Primary three. I was arrested last week Wednesday. I actually
wanted to travel but I have yet to decided where I will go. So, I just went to
the tarmac to see the aeroplanes.”
Lateef’s grandmother, Adunni, said
she had no idea that her grandson was nursing the idea of travelling out of the
country. She said she had been responsible for his upkeep since his
mother abandoned him at infancy.
“I did not know that he wanted to
travel. I just did not see him last week and I started looking for him
all over the place. It was on Saturday that I finally found out that he had
been arrested,” she said.
Onyedikachi and Joshua were said to
have been arrested after asking some security agents where Malaysia flights
were boarding.
After being questioned, the boys, who
were both in SS1, said they had no travel documents and were immediately
arrested.
Police said Onyedikachi’s brother was
in Malaysia and it was possible that the teenager wanted to travel out to see
his brother.
Onyedikachi, however said, “We were
at the departure area of the airport. We did not attempt to travel out. We were
just loitering and wanted to see the aeroplanes. We did not want to travel out
on that day.”
Onyedikachi’s mother berated her son
for his escapade. She said she had warned him and Joshua to be well behaved at
all times.
She said, “I had no knowledge of what
they did. Onyedikachi is well taken care of and is not suffering. I don’t know
what pushed him to do this.”
Tags
Society
Na wa for all dis 9ja kids oo,so una don dey take am form habit now to dey enter plane tyre compartment abi?the early the better dem start to dey jail una so una go stop the bad act.moreover shame to their so called parent too.
ReplyDeleteThat's true they need to be dealt with,but their parents don't need to be blame thou much.Nothing way nor go happen for this world.una wan form ator
DeleteNo one sane wants to remain in this hell hole of a nation: there was brain drain of doctors n professionals in the late '80s, then young adults in the '90s. Now teenagers are catching up, very soon babes as young as 5yrs old will follow suit
ReplyDeleteWho is to be blame?Dat is to tell u d level of our poverty n yet som ungodly n foolish people are telling us dat we are celebrating independent,what are we celebrating is it poverty or hunger or hardship it shud be either of them.Go to USA,England,Holland etc n c how they wholeheartedly n in joy n happiness.Over here is either we are force to celebrate or begged to celebrate.Only very few dat has stolen our wealth or those dat got their money thru dubious means are d major people dat will be celebrating.How can we celebrate wen we are hungry n our resources are been lavishly use by som few people,they also embezzle it n increase our own suffering,how can we celebrate wen there is insecurity in d country,every day if Boko haram is not killing it will be kidnapping n robbery here n there,d ASUU strike is there what they are telling us is there is no enough money n yet d ministers are lavishing money on maintenance of their jets n d president importing expensive gold phones 4 d celebration wen it suppose to be actually be mourning,d leaders we haf in dis country starting 4rm d oga at d top are very corrupt n wicked full of evil bad minded people.They will surely reap what they haf sow either soon or later
ReplyDeleteAmen, so shall it be IJN. I share your ideas. You have just pen down my mind. Let us be sincere, not only that the kids wants to leave Nigeria. Even the ones in the womb are been diverted to some other better countries. Check the birth rate, it is going down on a daily basis. But death rate increases.
DeleteGod help Nigeria.
S.O.R.
Wonders shall never end. Next na baby'ss turn Govt pls pls hear d voice of d mass. Pple are suffering imagin something like dat came into their mind dats shows the life is not easy for them
ReplyDeleteCan u imagine!them tried to find their way out of this hell called Nigeria..Nice effort from them..MuMu president,hope u'r seeing all dis?Idiot
ReplyDeleteWhen we stop glorifying crime and get back our value system,our citizens(kids inclusive) will behave. Instead admonishing the 1st stow away,Daniel from Edo we shamelessly made him a hero. Many more boys will try to copy him. Let us address issue sanely, stow away is crime and whosoever tries it is a criminal and not hero.
ReplyDeleteWhy are u complainin,go and hang ur self now if u are tired of ur country.
ReplyDeleteI tire sef!Nigerians r in d habit of complaining,if u tell them 2 come out and protest u will nt see them.I work in a small firm,we belonged 2 a workers Union yet nobody agreed 2 rep our company @ d state level yet we keep complaining abt our poor welfare package.The critical question remains who will bell d Cat!
ReplyDelete