STOWAWAY SAGA: Teenage boy wanted to fulfill ambition to go to America – Mum

*The quarrel with sister moments before
risky action
*Why he survived inside aircraft’s wheel
— Expert
Madam Evelyn Ohikhena, like many other
Nigerians, was shocked when she was
informed by her sister in-law in Germany,
that her son, Daniel, stowed from Benin-
City to Lagos via an Arik flight penultimate
Saturday. Before the call from the sister
who read the story online on Sunday
morning, Madam Oikhena had gone to the
police station to report a case of missing
person.
The mother, a saloonist with four
children, was invited, on Tuesday, by
officials of the Department of State
Security (DSS). She narrated her ordeal
to Sunday Vanguard thereafter. “My son’s
name is Ricky Daniel. He answers one
name in school and another one at home.
He is in JSS 1. Before now, he was in a
private school Young Scholars, but,
because I could not afford his school fees
when my saloon got burnt, I now took
him to Ogbe Secondary School to
continue his third term”, she said. She
continued, “My sister- in-law in Germany,
who was unaware that we were looking
for him, called to alert me of the
development.
She got the news via internet. I think she
said she read it in Vanguard. She was the
one who told me Ricky was in Lagos, that
he broke airport security and entered the
wheel of the plane heading to Lagos.
Soon after she called, my attention was
drawn to newspapers by sympathizers
and family friends. I rushed to Ring Road
where I bought a newspaper and
thereafter I went to the police station to
report the matter. He was not used to
leaving home”. According to her, the
police initially did not believe her story as
they said “I did not know who I was
looking for.”
*The apprehended teenager who stowed
from Benin.
Narrating how the boy left home without
being stopped, Mrs Ohikhena said, “I left
home around 9pm on Friday for the
house of my elder sister who gave birth to
pass the night. When I came back the
following morning, my daughter told me
that she and her brother-the stowed boy-
had an argument , that she found him
watching film when she woke up to ease
herself and that he broke the television
set.
The sister explained that my mum-their
grandmother- settled the quarrel but
when she woke up in the morning, she
could not find him”. Debunking the claim
by the teenage boy that he left the house
because he was being maltreated, Madam
Ohikhena said, “ I did not maltreat him,
but I don’t play with him . And I don’t joke
with my children’s education. I give them
the best of education.
Everybody knows me, go and ask about
me in Oba Market. When we commenced
the search for him, his nine year-old
younger brother told me that each time
they were watching film, he always said
he will go abroad, that he will go to the
airport to enter plane. He told me to go
and check the airport. I did not believe
him. He does not have friends, he hardly
leaves home. My son thought he was
going to America. My only joy now is that
he is alive”.
The stowaway saga began penultimate
Saturday when the pilot of the Arik plane,
about to take from Benin-City enroute
Lagos, claimed to have seen Daniel and
informed the control tower which
promised that security agents will
apprehend the boy. The stowaway
teenager, however, successfully entered
the nose wheel of the aircraft. He was
found when the plane arrived Lagos by
officials of the Federal Airports Authority
of Nigeria (FAAN). His survival in the
aircraft wheel well was surprising too
because most stowaways face numerous
health risks.
From statistics, from 1947 to September
2012, there were 96 stowaway attempts
worldwide in wheel wells of 85 separate
flights, which resulted in 73 deaths. An
aviation expert, David Learmont,
suggested that no one would be willing to
risk such journey, adding that stowaways
who survive usually traveled relatively
short distances or at low altitude. He also
attributed why stowaways are prevalent
in Africa to the poor perimeter security in
several airports.