mum cries:'I warned my late son against ill-fated trip'
Thursday, November 2, 2006
'I warned my late son against ill-fated trip'
By Debo Oladimeji
DEVASTATED parents of Mr. Christian Kanu, one of the crew members that died in the Aviation Development Company (ADC) plane crash yesterday recalled their last moments with their late son.
The father of the deceased, Mr. Ikechukwu Kanu, described the period he had with Christian that fateful Sunday as very brief.
He said: "He told me that he would embark on the trip and I said go well, God be with you. I did not have any premonition concerning his death."
The situation was different with Christian's mother, Rose. Prior to the accident, the bereaved mother had seen the mishap in a "revelation," and warned her late son not to embark on the trip.
She said: "I warned him against the ill-fated journey. I warned him to stop the ADC job, because I had a revelation of the plane crash, but he said nothing would happen to him. I later called my sister that I was afraid that my son was working with ADC and that he was not ready to discontinue with the job."
At their Lagos home, the parents told The Guardian yesterday that they asked their son to resign his appointment with the airline since he had been admitted for a Master's degree programme in a South African university.
The Anambra-born Christian, the parents said was finalising his arrangements for the South Africa trip before the crash.
A graduate of Mass Communication from University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Christian had reportedly stopped work with ADC but was recalled for the disastrous trip.
According to his father: "My son had even stopped going to work before he was called to come for the trip that incidentally was his last.
Christian was said to have won the ADC Best Crew Member Award last year.
Giving the account of her premonition of the mishap, Mrs. Kanu said: "That very day, our Pastor at the Lord's Chosen said that somebody was afraid of a plane crash but that he was praying against it. I told my son not to go ahead with it but he refused to listen to me.
"Later, they (ADC) promoted him probably because they knew he was going to leave the job.But he loved the job and since there was no other one for him he decided to damn the consequences.
"Sometimes he would tell me that today the turbulence was too much. Everybody was shouting Jesus! Jesus!! At times he would say that when they were about to land, the tyres would not come out so they had to be praying.
"That day I was in the church when their plane was air borne. The weather was very cloudy but I said may God see them through.I was forced to bring out his picture in my bag and started praying that God should uphold my son.
"When I came from the church I lay down on the bed knowing that nothing had happened. I called my sister that I saw a cloud, very thick in the sky. I was watching it .I saw a pistol that went straight to my head as I was watching the cloud. Then I woke up the following morning and called my sister that this was a bad omen.
"I called my child that he should stop the job but he would not bother, he said that nothing would happen, mum! But it was not a dream but a revelation."
One of the cousins of the late Christian, Dr. Ivian Kanu accused the ADC management of being insensitive to the family's plight.
"They could not even identify the body of their workers but it was our people in Abuja and the ones we sent from Lagos that helped them (ADC) to locate the bodies of the pilot and some of the crew members. Christian's body was beyond recognition," he said.
the guardian news
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