Explosion at an ammunition depot in Lagos

The military town in Ikedzhe had a large warehouse in the nearby town of Lagos, located north of the city center, near the areas of Isolo and Onigbongo. ^[1] In January 2002, the base was used to store a large number of “large caliber bombs”, as well as other explosives. ^[2] On the afternoon of January 27, a fire broke out in a street market, located near the base, in which there were also families of soldiers. ^[1] Around 6 pm, the fire apparently spread to the main ammunition depot of the base, causing a huge explosion. As a result of this explosion, many military personnel of the base and their families died, and several nearby streets were immediately destroyed, and flying burning debris caused numerous fires in the city. The shaking of the earth from the explosion also destroyed many poorly constructed buildings in the area, ^[3] and new fires from damaged kitchen appliances broke out in the ruins. The shaking and the shock wave were so strong that at a distance of 15 km the windows were broken, and the explosion was felt at a distance of more than 50 km from the epicenter .

The explosion also lifted into the air thousands of still unexploded ordnance, which hit the ground with a rain of exploding projectiles, grenades and bullets, which caused further destruction and casualties in most of the northern part of the city. Thousands of people from Ikeji and the neighboring districts of Lagos, seeing the explosions and fires, left their homes, trying to leave the affected areas. ^[4] As the streets immediately became crowded, the tears of ammunition falling from the initial explosion among the fleeing crowd created panic. When the inhabitants fled, when panicked people fled in all directions, the fallen ones were trampled down. The messages also describe people jumping from burning high-rise buildings and perishing in desperate attempts to cross the busy forked Ikeji highway. ^[3]

In the center of Lagos there is a large canal that runs from north to south, parallel to the Isolo-Oshodi highway through the city center. It borders on a banana plantation, which, according to many refugees, could protect them from falling ammunition and the spread of fires. ^[5] However, a plantation was separated from the city by a canal covered with water hyacinths and therefore invisible in the dark. When the mob rushed to the plantation, hundreds of panicked people fell into the water. ^[1] Those who were in the water were overwhelmed with even more people falling into the canal, and in the general confusion killed at least 600 people, many of whom were children. ^[6] Many of these bodies then drifted through the canal, and some were found ten kilometers from the site of the explosion.

The affected areas of the city burned most of the night, and the explosive materials continued to fly out of the destroyed arsenal until noon on January 28. The emergency services were completely unable to cope with the destruction, as there were not enough fire brigades or water supply points to cope with the fire, which as a result devoured most of the northern suburbs of Lagos. City hospitals were also completely overloaded, many injured for several hours could not receive medical care, even managing to reach an intact medical facility. ^[1] In addition, the military, who suffered the loss of many of their soldiers who were in Lagos during the initial explosion, could not take control of the city and did not appear there in large numbers until late in the evening on 28 January.

By the evening of January 28, most of the fires were under control, and people began to return to the city and try to find loved ones lost in the hustle. ^[5] Many of the victims were children, separated from their families in disarray and subsequently crushed in a crowd that filled the streets and canal. ^[6] In addition to those killed in the canal, several hundred people died in the city itself: killed by falling ammunition, trampled by a crowd, or burned in a fire.

The final death toll is difficult to calculate, although the Red Cross claims that at least 1000 bodies were found, and a number of people were missing and were not found. ^{[7] [8]} In addition to the dead, at least 5,000 people were affected by the disaster, more than 12,000 were left homeless, and entire areas of the city were destroyed. About 20,000 people left the city on the night of the explosion, and the survivors gradually returned over the next week. ^[five]

Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo arrived in Ikeja on January 28, along with many high-ranking city and national politicians, and publicly demanded military replies about why such a huge ammunition depot stood in such a poorly maintained and densely populated place. ^[1] Later it turned out that a small explosion had already occurred at the base last year, after which the city authorities advised the army to remove or modernize the arsenal, but they did not take any action. ^[9] On the evening of January 28, George Emdin, the commander of Ikeja base, who was not in place at the time of the explosion, made a statement:

“On behalf of the military, we regret that this old large-caliber ammunition depot (...) in the recent past made some attempts to improve storage, but this accident happened before high-level authorities could do what was needed” ^{[ 9]}

This statement outraged the people of Lagos, who argued that the military justified their mistakes and that nothing would be done to improve security at other abandoned ammunition depots, many of which were not properly maintained after Nigeria restored democracy in 1999 after twenty years of military rule. ^[9] Also, immediately after the explosion, fears were widespread that this meant the beginning of a military coup, although the government later issued a statement precluding such a possibility. ^[ten]

Numerous aid agencies, including the Red Cross and the Red Crescent , have provided assistance to thousands of homeless and affected people in the weeks after the disaster trying to reunite at least 2,000 separated or displaced families. ^{[5] The} people whose houses were preserved were evacuated from Ikeji so that the explosives specialists could remove the large amount of unexploded ordnance from the area. Evacuees and refugees were placed in temporary premises at Ikeji Police College and Abalti Barracks in Yaba. ^[5] The recovery process in Ikeja took several years, as the recovery program was long and expensive, and many people remained homeless and poor due to the loss of both houses and livelihoods as a result of the fire.