Remembering A Tragedy

Written by  Alphonsus Eyinnaya

Source: www.express.co.uk

Only days ago, players and officials of Heartland of Owerri were involved in a car accident in Maiduguri on their way to honor a league match. It brought back painful memories of a very similar event that happened on this same month 22 years ago. Ides of September?

It was also a Sunday like this. Glued to our portable Sharp black and white television that late evening, I heard the Newscaster announce on the 7pm News that an aircraft carrying players and crew of Iwuanyanwu Nationale (now Heartland FC) had crashed on their way back from a continental game against Esperance of Tunis which they lost 3-0.

My blood ran cold.

Normally such news items were usually broken first on national news but I don’t know why it was first reported on NTA Channel 8, Enugu. Anyways, the coming days saw the news covered ad nauseam on state and national TV.

Of the 40 souls aboard the ill-fated Oriental Airlines BAC 111, 5 People perished, including 2 players; Goalkeeper Uche Ikeogu and Eghomwanre Omale.

The death toll would definitely have been higher had the pilot, Capt Amaechi Chukwuenyi not ensured that the plane’s fuel was emptied midair before allowing the plane to crash-land at Aguennar airport, Algeria. This ensured that the aircraft didn’t burst into flames when it crashed.

While one is tempted to tow the line of complaining that no monument or semblance of remembrance has been erected for the victims of this unfortunate mishap, 22 years after, there is the wider narrative of sharing our own story.

A similar event involving Manchester United on 6 February 1958 known as the Munich Disaster enjoyed far greater coverage and outpouring of sympathy. There is a site exclusively dedicated to celebrating the lives and times of the 7 players who lost their lives in that crash.

Yet we complain of the way the Western media distorts our stories, telling only our “bad” side without knowing that the West have mastered the art of telling their stories assertively and consistently.

They are quite adroit at projecting a positive image of their peoples and cultures. Even when the news is negative, they still find a way of telling it in a manner that would evoke sympathy and universal compassion. Where are the families of those who lost their lives in that mishap? No journalist has ever thought of going to interview them to at least get their background stories.

Search on Google for this incident and you’d find hazily dark alleys and dodgy dead ends of information pertaining to it. The picture used for this post is that of the Munich Air Disaster as there is no visible documented evidence of the occurrence of the Iwuanyanwu disaster. Maybe it should be named,, the Iwuanyanwu Disaster. Iwuanyanwu Disaster.

Globally celebrated author, Chimamanda Adichie encapsulates this idea of native storytelling brilliantly in a landmark speech she delivered at a TED Event titled The Danger of a Single Story. In it she asserts amongst other truisms that he who tells the best story wins. If we don’t tell our story, no one else will because they are busy telling theirs.

As for the Oriental Airlines BAC 111 crash involving Iwuanyanwu Nationale (sorry I prefer this name to the banal and bland Heartland), there is no Wikipedia page documenting that incident, neither can you find any picture of the plane wreckage, nor the faces of the two unfortunate players that lost their lives in that crash.

Don’t forget that they were on a quest to win the then seemingly elusive Sekou Toure Cup, the African Cup of Champions cup for Nigeria, a trophy finally won by neighbors Enyimba in 2003, thus ending the country’s 39-year wait for the trophy. No government at the federal level has deemed it fit to honor or remember them, nor even the Imo State government. I doubt too if there was any form of compensation to the victims and survivors, except maybe from the then club financier, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu.

Iwuanyanwu Nationale (now Heartland FC) have won the Nigerian Professional League title four times; (1988, 1989, 1990 and 1993), the FA Cup (1988 and 2009) and have featured in 2 African Cup of Champions cup finals(now CAF Champions League), losing on both occasions to Entente Setif of Algeria (1988) and TP Mazembe of Congo DR (2009). Here is the list of the 35 survivors and 5 victims of the crash. At least if not for anything, to honor their memory;

Victims
1. Uche Ikeogu (Goalkeeper)
2. Eghomware Aimuanmwosa (Defender)
3. Captain Amaechi Chukwuenyi (Pilot)
4. Captain Chinedu Ogbonna (Co-Pilot)
5. Obiageli Ezeh (Air Hostess)

Survivors
1. Mike Onyemachara (Captain)
2. Mike Obi
3. Udeagha Agbrakwe
4. Aliyu Muzambilu
5. Obinna Obiaka
6. Uche Agbo
7. Tanko Saleh
8. Julius Akpele
9. Ating Ating
10. Mba Agbai
11. Ibe Johnson
12. Emeka Lucky
13. Jimoh Okwudili
14. James Enagwuna
15. Tony Nwaigwe
16. Yakubu Umar
17. Christian Chukwu (Coach)
18. Alphonsus Dike (Assistant Coach)
19. Uche Ejimofor (Team Official)
20. Amanze Uchegbulam (Team Official)
21. Ignatius Okehialam
22. Steve Olarinoye
23. Bola Oyeyode
24. Olumide Akande (National Sportslink)
25. Banji Ola (Sporting Champion)
26. Atu Mike
27. Edo Aduba
28. Raymond Emiowele
29. Valentine Ogos
30. Jonathan Nyingida
31. Uzoma Uzodike
32. Edward Ezenwa
33. George Iheanacho
34. Caroline Nwosu
35. Alhaji Abdullahi Matori (Head of Delegation)