…VOWS NEVER TO HAPPEN AGAIN
By Okosun Dennis
Twenty-one years, nine months after the unfortunate incident of the bomb blast at Ikeja Military Cantonment, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt Gen Taoreed Lagbaja has flagged off “Exercise Clean Sweep” met to disinfect and clear all unexploded Ordnances at the epicentre.
The flag-off took place on Tuesday, at the epicentre in Ikeja Cantonment, which has since been cordoned off.
“EXERCISE CLEAN SWEEP” took off at the site of the 28th January 2002 Bomb Blast from today, 10th October, to 10th December 2023, and would involve mobilization of engineers’ plants and other necessary equipment.
Conducting the COAS round the troops and equipment deployed to ensure a hitch-free exercise, Col Abdulrazaak Kazeem explained to the COAS various equipment deployed for the exercise that would last the next 60 days.
While briefing the press at the 9 Brigade Officers’ Mess on the sequences of events during the period of the exercise, Gen Taoreed Lagbaja explained that immediately after the blast happened, as a responsible organisation, the Nigerian Army carried out necessary clearance operations at the site of the explosion, which led to the recovery and disposal of the bulk of Unexploded Explosive Ordnance left behind.
According to him, “The initial clearance operation ensured some degree of safety at Ikeja Cantonment and its environs. However, the recent discovery of some Unexploded Explosive Ordnances at the site raised the need for the Nigerian Army to carry out a follow-up clearance exercise.
It was learnt that movement and disposal of recovered Unexploded Explosive Ordnances from Ikeja Cantonment to the Nigerian Army Range at Ajilete in Ogun State where they would be carefully detonated under the controlled measures will be under the strict supervision of the Nigerian Army Engineers and other bomb experts from sister agencies.
In an interview, Gen Taoreed Lagbaja gave further details about the activities lined up during the 60-day window of the exercise.
He assured Nigerians that this never again will such incident happen, adding that “the assurance I have for Nigerians is that the Nigerian Army is the people’s Army, we are professional and as a responsible force, we have not lost sight of the epicentre, even though it has taken us this long, to carry out a comprehensive disinfection of every unexploded ordinance and detonate them at the range.
“Nigerians should be rest assured that the people we have on the ground are our troops, other agencies are supporting us, including the government departments and professionals, and they would conduct this exercise in the most professional manner to avoid the accident.
“The troops are moving around with heavy equipment and people shouldn’t entertain any fear as what we are doing is to make the community safer,” Gen Lagbaja averred.
Speaking further, he revealed that the Nigerian Army took the blame for the 2002 bomb blast, hence the then Commander, Lagos Garrison Command, Brigadier General John Emdin sent out a public apology to the people of Lagos, especially the residents of Onigbogbo and Maryland and other host communities.
On why it took the Nigerian Army over 21 years to embark on this exercise, the Army boss reiterated that “Under normal circumstances when the blast of this nature happens, a minimum period of 15 years gap is allowed for everything to settle. During this period, we have the expertise working in conjunction with our international partners, acquired equipment, and other clearance equipment.
“It’s not because we have lost time or unconscious of what has happened but because it’s in line with the international best practices. What we are doing now is to properly disinfect and put to safe use, ensuring that no such incident will happen in our cantonment again.”
Earlier in his welcome remarks, the Commander, Corps of Engineers, Nigerian Army, Major General PE Eromosele explained that the exercise was designed to clear remnants of Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) from the site of the unfortunate incident of the 2002 Ikeia Cantonment bomb blast.
He observed that sequel to the occurrence, the Nigerian Army Engineers alongside other stakeholders carried out an initial clearance operation, and over 105 truck-load of UXOs were recovered and disposed of.
However, other UXOs buried in the ground were not recovered at the time. This was in line with global best practices in explosive ordnance disposal, which requires that deeply buried unstable UXOs lie fallow for at least 15 years before recovery (this period is known as soak time to allow the unstable UXOs to stabilize as well as wash up towards the surface thereby enhancing safety and detection).
Gen Eromosele, however, explained that the Ex CLEAN SWEEP is organized into four phases, which include Mobilization, Vegetation clearance, Search/Recovery/Disposal, and Demobilization.
In the same vein, he revealed that they have sufficiently mobilized relevant sophisticated search, identification, recovery, disposal, and safety equipment including the Husky Dual Sensor CID vehicle, Maxxpro Explosives Recovery Vehicle, CIED Robots, Ballistics vests and helmets as well as Bomb suits among others.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Lagbaja had earlier commissioned a fire station domiciled at the Ikeja Cantonment.
The Chief of Staff, Mr Tayo Ayinde, stood in for the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Present were the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 81 Division, Maj Gen MT Usman, the Garrison Commander, 81 Division, Dodan Barracks, Brigadier General Musa Abubakar Sadiq, Commander, 9 Brigade, Ikeja Cantonment, Brigadier General Adegoke Adetuyi, Commanding Officer, 65 Battalion, Bonny Cantonment, Lt Col Mohammed Lawal, Commandant, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Lagos State Command, and his Federal Road Safety Commission counterpart, Sector Commander Babatunde Farinloye.
Also present was HRH Adeyemi Ajasa, Oba of Onigbogbo, and the representative of the Commissioner of Police, Lagos state, CP Idowu Owohunwa among other dignitaries.
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