Upper Iweka is a bustling, high-risk zone. Its location as a major intersection for human and vehicular traffic makes it a transportation hub in Onitsha, the commercial nerve-centre of Southeast Nigeria. Upper Iweka is a stretch from the popular Iweka Road built in 1924 by one of Nigeria’s foremost public works practitioners, Israel Eloebo Iweka (1879-1934). He became the king of Obosi, his hometown, in 1932, hence the title, ‘Eze Iweka’. Beyond his pioneering strides in civil construction, the Enugu-based hub, Centre for Memories notes that he was the first to write Igbo history in Igbo language and later translated it into English language in 1922. And to preserve his legacy, some Roads in Onitsha were thoughtfully named after him.
But, over the time, the Upper Iweka area morphed to a metaphor of savagery, chaos, lawlessness, and ‘might is right’. It became a den of criminals who dared the firepower of state apparatus. It was an ‘under-governed’ space in the heart of a metropolitan city. Touts, thugs, drunkards, drug addicts, pick-pockets, armed robbers, illegal revenue collectors and make-believe magicians operated bare-facedly and unchallenged for decades. One commentator noted that “at a point, it was commonplace for people to look the other way while someone was being robbed…” It was that bad! Even the former governor of the state, Peter Obi, once said that he received the idea of cleaning up the place from a mad man. But today, while Upper Iweka has recorded a significant level of sanity, the hangover, unfortunately, played out at Abuja and Lagos Airports recently.
On August 5, the Fuji music legend, Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, popularly known as K1 De Ultimate or KWAM1, was at the local wing of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, enroute Lagos. After passing the initial screening points and got to the tarmac, he was denied entry into the booked ValueJet aircraft. He was reportedly carrying a flask containing alcohol which was a clear breach of aviation safety protocols. Perhaps, those who initially allowed him to pass with alcohol, as part of his hand luggage, were the usual genuflecting and beggarly personnel who over-impress travelers with sycophantic greetings at the detriment of strict routine checks. Typical of most Nigerian big men who brazenly flout laws, KWAM 1 was impudent when flight attendants and aviation security personnel at the tarmac did the right time. And like ‘Agberos’ at Upper Iweka who could block a moving luxurious bus that fail to give them their street hustling returns, KWAM1 displayed a similar bravado by physically blocking the aircraft from taxiing for takeoff.
In his after-thought public apology which was more of a rehash of self-glorification, KWAM1 claimed that what he was carrying was water for rehydration on medical advice, but from the findings of the airport security, the content was an alcohol. Conceding but not agreeing that the content was water, KWAM1’s actions however, appeared as if he was under an influence of alcohol or drugs. What if the aircraft had continued taxiing and got him crushed? Does he need a medical advice to steer clear from runways, too? Such crude acts would mostly happen at Upper Iweka. And that is why a veteran columnist, Ochereome Nnanna’s advice is apt: “Stay away from airports and planes if you are crazy.” For the two pilots who got sanctioned for losing their cool in the ensuing imbroglio, I recommend David J. Pollay’s book, ‘The Law of the Garbage Truck’, to help manage provocations in the line of duty, and to avert irreversible mistakes that could ruin careers.
A similar scenario, which Nigerians have satirically referred to as KWAM2, happened at the Lagos Airport on August 10. Ms. Comfort Emmanson, a passenger who flew from Uyo via Ibom Air had an altercation and physical brawl with the cabin crew, based on her refusal to switch off her phone while air-borne. Apparently, her incendiary rhetoric got to the nerves and she was pounced on by flight attendants when the plane landed. She was arrested in a Gestapo-style like a terrorist who wanted to blow up the aircraft. Apart from her public shaming and indecorous treatment, what raised public backlash and tirades of condemnations was the ‘Jankara’ speed of her arraignment and the long detention clamped on her at Kirikiri Prison by a Magistrate who obviously operates with a prepared charge sheet with few blank spaces for emergency services. Nonsense!
Thanks to the social media, the new leveler. Kudos to Afam Osigwe-led Nigeria Bar Association for always standing up with intervening voice of public interest. There was no protest from our elected representatives. NBA elected to stand in the gap for the poor girl who was muzzled out of circulation without fair hearing. That was Upper Iweka’s dog-eat-dog model. Nobody defended anyone who was being served jungle justice. But in this case, the virtual space connected civil rights campaigners and public advocates who quickly drew a parallel between KWAM 1 and Ms. Comfort’s incidents. Big-man was let off the hook; poor girl was battered with a corrective overkill. And in response to the public image crisis, the federal government overreached itself by withdrawing the charges against the poor girl, got the court to release her, and pronounced forgiveness to both of them. KWAM1 was honoured with a brand ambassador for proper airport security protocols by the federal government, while Ms. Comfort has been receiving offers of perks like iPhone 16 Pro Max, juicy job, land in Abuja, all-expense paid trips for vacationing, as well as products ambassadorial roles. What an irony for a nation in great need of role models!
The greatest loser in the whole drama is the national moral ethos. Selective enforcement of laws and rewarding of bad behaviours in an invitation for more impunity. Indeed, more lawless fans have been inadvertently recruited. As Olaleye Olawale shared on WhatsApp, an unruly Enugu Air passenger who was asked to switch off the phone on August 16 threatened thus, “Wetin happen for Ibom Air go happen for here now now.”
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