– A 13-year-old Daniel Ohiekhena who stowed from Benin Airport to Lagos in 2013 has revealed his experience
– He said he was motivated to hide in the plane’s engine because he wanted to travel abroad
– He added that the silly move he made gave him the opportunity of being in school today
Four years after he stowed from Benin Airport to Lagos, a 13-year-old Daniel Ohikhena has revealed why he hid himself in the plane’s engine.
Vanguard recalled that Daniel who hails from Owan, Edo state, stowed from Benin Airport to Lagos in the wheel well of Arik flight W3 544. When the flight landed at the Lagos Airport, security agents and passengers aboard the flight were shocked to see the boy creeping out of one of the wheels of the aircraft.
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ZENITHBLOG.com gathered that the security agents and passengers thought he was a ghost until they found that the boy stowed to Lagos. Daniel told journalists then that he thought the flight was going to America as he wanted to travel outside Nigeria. The former governor of Edo state, Adams Oshiomhole, however gave him scholarship to continue his education.
Edo stowaway boy, Daniel Ohiekhena, being held by security officer at Lagos state Airport in 2013
In a chat with Sunday Vanguard, Daniel stated that during the governorship election, he prayed that Oshiomhole’s candidate should win “because I was scared that if the PDP took power, they will stop my scholarship”.
The former stowaway boy continued: “And thank God Obaseki won and since he came in, he has been doing his best for me. I am very fine at school. He has been paying my school fees and I am very grateful. I thank him for continuing with my scholarship and God will bless him. But I want to see him and thank him personally”.
Asked about his school work and ambition to be a pilot, Daniel said: “My school has teachers who are well trained. Former governor Ohsiomhole rehabilitated our school and recruited good teachers who have been doing very well. In fact, my school is better than most private schools which big men’s children attend.
“I like the school and enjoy my studies. I am a member of the school cricket team and I am doing very well. I am a science student and I am good in computer studies. I wanted to be a pilot but I think I will do better in computer engineering.
I have been told that I can still do piloting after becoming a
“If not, I would not have gotten this scholarship and I am from a poor home. My mother is struggling to train us including my siblings and it has not been easy. But thank God, after what happened, our governor then, Comrade Oshiomhole, gave me scholarship after he invited me to his office.
“Governor Oshiomhole helped me that time. He discovered me and told me that I should work hard so that I could achieve all I want in life.
Benin stowaway boy, Daniel and mother
“He gave me a chance to be educated and I am very grateful to him. “I always discuss the issue with my friends in school and some of them wished they were me. Whichever way you look at it, I have entered the plane before but most of them have not.
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“So sometimes I feel proud of what I did and sometimes I feel stupid when I was told that I could have died in the incident”. When he was told that the wheel well of the plane is always hot, and whether he felt the heat, he replied: “It was not hot really. The temperature was normal. I was really not scared of anything because I was determined to travel out.
The only thing is that I now have one challenge in my ears due to the noise from the engines of the plane. It is like the noise still echoes in my ears giving me the impression that I may have problems with my ears.
Meanwhile, in the video below by ZENITHBLOG.com, Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II blasts Nigeria’s leaders over poverty.
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