One year after the ill-fated Dana air crash at Iju, Ifako-Ijaye Local Council Development Area, LCDA , Pastor Daniel Omowunmi, the owner and occupant of the site where the crash occurred says the only things he has been enjoying since the incident are neglect, pain and anguish at the hands of both the Lagos State government and the management of Dana airline.
Pastor Omowunmi, who wouldn’t spare a word, told Saturday Vanguard that since the incident, his family, business and entire life have been marked by a cycle of depression and anguish from the management of Dana airline.
The pastor has since the incident quit the area to an unknown destination, and can only be tracked down by phone whenever he is needed.
“The plane crashed into my premises on June 3, 2012. My property is situated on four plots of land – two plots facing Popoola Street and the other two facing Olaniyi street. I lost four different structures to that crash. I had in the compound a 6-bedroom detached building, as well as two warehouses.
“I had a bungalow at the back of the warehouse. The bungalow was used as office and staff residence. There were about eleven containers of both educational materials and kitchen utensils – six containers for educational materials while the other five were kitchen utensils. All the goods were worth N300m; while my own property was worth N200m. A total of N500m worth of goods altogether were lost to the crash”, he lamented.
Pastor Omowunmi disclosed that at the point of submission of his claim, the only thing he could remember was his property and four fish ponds.
“That site served as both residence and company for me. I also had a furniture factory and interior decoration. It was a new building. Those structures were completed in December 2011. I moved to that place in January 2012, the crash happened in June 3, 2012. So, I didn’t spend six months in that place and the Cof O was issued barely few months before the crash,” he quipped.
Asked what happened to all the properties, he said, “Everything was razed totally by the crash. Since then, we have made several efforts to get the attention of the management of Dana airline but all efforts proved abortive.
“The crash happened on June 3 and we submitted our claim on June 20, 2012 and until now, the management of Dana airline had refused to respond adequately. Except for the N4.5m made available for my accommodation which I rejected out-rightly four months ago but my lawyer insisted I should collect it.
“There were lots of pressures from my lawyer before they chose to give the money. I wouldn’t know why they chose to treat me with neglect. Perhaps, they thought, I was living on a tree before the crash.
“I know I was living inside a house and I did not built on the runway neither did I build in the sky. I got my building plan approval and every other document was legally processed, documented and handed over to me.
“So, I do not know why I should be the one to suffer all the pain. As we speak there is no response from the management of Dana airline even though it claimed to have started negotiation with one Pastor Daniel. I wonder who they are negotiating with. For me, there is no response from them as they claimed. And if they have started any negotiation at all, I challenge them to present the documents to back up their claims and make all the acknowledgment copies available to the public.
“For me, what the management of Dana airline had succeeded in doing is making me redundant. Since the incident, I have not been working. I have not earned a dime. I only sleep and and wake up redundant every day.
“Out of frustration, I marched to the premises of Dana airline three weeks ago to stage a protest. I have been battered and I really need to let them know what I am going through. Surprisingly, the management alerted policemen that some gunmen attacked the office. But, when the policemen came, they saw me and were shocked.”
On why he refused to attend the one year remembrance of the ill-fated Dana air crash at Iju organised by the State government, Pastor Omowunmi said, “I had no business there because I am not happy with what is going on. The state government has succeeded in taking over my land and built its cenotaph on it. I can’t imagine a government that issued a Cof O to its citizen and because an accident happened, the land was taken over by the same government.
“The highest level of lawlessness is for a state government to take over a land that is legally acquired without due process. I am aware that government can acquire any land but that is not to say there are no principles to be followed.
“So, they acquired that land illegally and built on it illegally. As I speak, there is no response from the state government. At first, when the incident happened, I was invited by the state government through the Ministry of Lands that the government had the intention to use the land. At that meeting, I was given a privilege to write out what I expected of the government especially on that site. And I wrote that they should relocate me to a commensurate size and location. But, as I speak nothing of such has happened.
“Rather, I was being pushed from one office to the other. Then, I was finally introduced to the Executive Secretary of Ministry of Lands who later promised that the state government would not carry out any work on the site until my compensation is duly paid. That I would be relocated before they commence any work on that site.
“Surprisingly, on May 7, officials of the Lagos State government moved to that land and commenced work on it the following day.
“I don’t expect the state government to build a cenotaph to celebrate the dead to the detriment of the living. Perhaps, they are planning to increase the number of the dead. Everything they have put down there is in the memory of the dead.
“I am not against the fact that they are celebrating the dead. As a matter of fact, I sincerely commiserate with the families who lost their loved ones, but that is not to say the number of the dead should be increased.
“The federal government built the same cenotaph in Abuja but not at the crash site. So, if the state government prefers to build the cenotaph on the crash site, I think it should have good intentions for the real occupant.
“I don’t know what I have done wrong. Perhaps, it is a crime to acquire property in Lagos with all the necessary documents? The annoying part is that getting all the necessary landed properties in Lagos State is like a camel passing the needle’s eye.
“There has been no assistance of any kind from the government except when the affected people were moved to a relief camp. I find it difficult to believe that the Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola, knows what is going on.
If the same government which approves Cof O to its citizens deems it fit to take the land back without due process, then, it simply means that the government has failed. I believe there must be a process of revocation of the Cof O with the assurance of relocating the individual”, he added
On his perception about the government on the land, he said, “I expect that the government should be on top of affairs. The government should go ahead of the people not the people going ahead of the government.”
Saturday Vanguard gathered that before the crash, the presence of Pastor Omowunmi and his businesses had put smiles on the faces of several young people living within and outside the community. Another resident, Madam Ramota Akinnusi, an 80-year-old woman who is popularly called Ijasope, also lamented neglect by the state government.
Her house is the first building located at Popoola street as she shares boundary with the cenotaph. She lamented that since the incident, she has experiencing trauma from the state government.
“I had received several letters from the state government demanding that I should quit the house, that they want to make use of it,” she disclosed.
Madam Akinnusi has been occupying her building for the past 30 years. Presently, a road construction is ongoing in the area. Due to the project, many houses have been affected, including Madam Ramota’s fence and shops.
Other Popoola residents, meanwhile, are not comfortable with the situation.
They claim that they have been cut out of the favour that was supposed to be theirs after the crash. “The state government preferred to repair the road from railway to Okunsanya and Olaniyi, but left out some major roads including Adebayo, Popoola and Akande Streets that link the Dana crash site,” some of them lamented.
In the same vein, they complained that the quality of materials used for the road construction are poor, saying that for that reason, the reconstruction might not stand the test of time.
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Pls in the name ofOd give this man another land, and Dana should build him all the lost property. These is very sad.
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