He never told anyone about his passion to be on a plane, not even his mother. His only confidant was his younger brother who he always told that he would one day travel abroad on an aircraft.
Last Saturday, Daniel attempted to realise his dream: he sneaked away from home to the Benin Airport. Undetected, the teenager got to the Arik plane. He grabbed one of the aircraft’s tyres, held on to it for the duration of the flight, apparently less than an hour.
Like the Biblical Daniel, who escaped the lions’ fangs when he was thrown into their den, Daniel Ohikhuna survived the flight to the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Ikeja, Lagos.
It was not until he was caught in Lagos under the Arik aircraft that the stowaway realised the risk he had taken.
Following his arrest and his story in the news, security agencies went to Benin for his parents. They got his mother, Mrs Evelyn Ohikhena. She was quizzed yesterday at the Benin office of the Directorate of Security Services (DSS).
Mrs Ohikhena addressed reporters yesterday after her interrogation.
She said her sister, who lives in Germany, informed her about Daniel’s adventure.
The mother of four, who lives at 6, Ehigiegba Street, off Goodwin Street in Benin, said she was still confused and in shock over the incident.
She said: “When we started looking for him, his nine-year-old younger brother told me that anytime they were watching movies, Daniel always said he would take an aircraft to travel abroad. The boy asked me to check for Daniel at the airport. I did not believe him.
“I left home on Friday to pass the night at my elder sister’s home. When I came back the following morning, my daughter told me that he and Daniel had an argument on Friday night. She said she did not find him around the following morning.”
Mrs Ohikhena debunked the insinuation that the boy might have made his dangerous journey following an ill-treatment meted out to him at home.
She said: “I did not maltreat him. I don’t even joke with my children’s education; I give them the best education. Everybody knows me. Ask of me at Oba Market (in Benin). The only thing that bothers me now is how my daughter will go to school, a Federal Government college.”
Giving an insight into the teenager’s life, Mrs Ohikhena said: “Daniel does not have friends. He hardly leaves home. I don’t know where he was going in Lagos; we don’t have any relative in Lagos. I have never been to the airport. But I cannot deny the fact that he might have been to the airport when he was attending a private school, but I’m not aware of when this happened.
“When I heard the news, I did not know what to do or say. I was very weak. Several people asked me to calm down. My only joy now is that he is alive; that is my happiness. I want the government to help me. I did not send him. I’m innocent.”
DSS Director Bakori Tukur said the security agency invited the mother for questioning and not to arrest her since her son was already in custody.
by: Osagie Otabor and Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, Benin
Culled from The Nation newspaper
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