The wife and mother of the late MIC Caskets
Managing Director, Tunji Okunsanya and Junior,
Dame Mobola Erogbogbo remembers her son one
year after the Associated Airlines plane crash that
claimed their lives.
It is exactly one year after the fatal Associated
Airlines plane crash near the Lagos Airport
terminal, where the likes of Magbamawo Industrial
Company, (MIC Caskets), boss Tunji Okunsanya
» and his son, Olatunji Okunsanya Jnr died, and
others, died while conveying the body of the late
former Governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Agagu,
for his burial, but the pains inflicted on the family
by that incident is yet to wane.
Okunsanya who died along some of his staff
members, is being remembered by his family
including Nollywood actress, Eniola Badmus, who
is his niece.
Though the tears may have dried up, the
memories of the departed, especially for Dame
Mobola Erogbogbo, the late MIC boss' wife and
mother of Olatunji Okunsanya Jnr who died with
his father, Olatunji Okunsanya, seems very fresh.
Speaking on her grief to the Nation Newspaper » ,
Dame Erogbogbo recalled the day, explaining that
her son had dropped her off at the Murtala
Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on her
way to London for an exhibition. Right after
checking her in, Junior, fondly called Jay, insisted
that the mother must take a photograph with him
before departing.
On October 2, last year, Tunji Junior was
the one that took me to the airport. I was
going to England for an exhibition. He
took me to the airport and we checked in.
As I was about to go in, he said: ‘Mummy
come back. I want us to take photograph
together’ and I jokingly said to him: ‘Jay,
what do you mean by photograph? I hope you
want me to get to this London safely because we
have never taken photograph at the airport
before’.
I asked him why he wanted the photo. He
said: ‘Mummy, let’s just take it’ and an
employee who accompanied us to the
airport took the photograph and he immediately
sent it to the sister in London, even before I got
there.
While we were on board, there was a little
turbulence and my mind flashed back to
the photograph and it created anxiety in
me but I had no clue that it had nothing to do
with me but was all about my dear son.
When I arrived in the UK, I tried his
father’s line to inform him that I had
arrived safely but his line did not go
through. I called his line and luckily it rang and
we spoke extensively.
I even told him about the turbulence we
experienced on air and my fear about the
picture. We laughed about it and he told
me about the publication that Thisday did on him
and he was so excited about it and wanted me to
see it. I had no clue that it was going to be my
last discussion with him.
In the morning, I woke up and my
grandson came to my room and appealed
that I should put on the computer for him
for 10 minutes because his parents won’t allow
him to watch TV during the week, and when they
all left home, I decided to go and sleep but I
could not sleep.
I tried to put on the TV but could not until
my daughter came back and put the TV
on Sky News and I saw the news
highlight: ‘Associated Airline crashed in Nigeria,
two dead.'
I shouted and informed my daughter that
it was Junior’s plane because I was
aware of the arrangement for the company
to convey Agagu’s body to Akure before I left
Nigeria.
It was about 9.45 am and we called
Junior’s phone and it rang but no
response. We started calling Nigeria, but
nobody was willing to tell us anything, and people
I had not spoken to for a long time were all
calling me and my daughter and it was at that
time I knew something had gone wrong.
All of them refused to tell us the true
situation until a family friend called and I
asked him not to lie to us about what had
happened. He said ‘Mummy, it’s all about you’
and I know that the worst had happened.
It was like a dream and it has not been
an easy experience. I had to cancel my
booking for the exhibition and come back
to Nigeria.
I was very fond of him. We were living
together and he was supposed to get
married this year, and each time I teased
him about scattering things, he would say it was
only for a while that when he got married, I would
be the one missing and sending for him. I did not
know that it was not going to be.
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