For Daniel Ohikhena, a Junior Secondary School (JSS)
One pupil in Benin, the Edo State capital, his dream was
to travel by air. He did it in a sensational way on Sunday.
Daniel hid in the tyre compartment of an Arik Air flight
from Benin to Lagos.
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.


Source: thenationonlineng.net/new/mum-stowaway-teenager-always-dreamt-of-air-travel/

Aawwww... what a woman! I am quite touched by how she spoke and talked about her boy! Only if Nigerian governments, especially at the center will stop making life hard for women like these who have no one to look up to or help them since the Nigerian government has failed and is failing currently.

Dis 1 na 24min... We don dey get future hero (Jack lomo). U don popula!. Find uk plane next time. Lolz

Please use the correct term. It's indoctrinated