Nigeria Airways Flight 470

On Monday, 25 October 1993, Nigeria Airways Flight 470, an Airbus A310 flight from Lagos to Abuja was hijacked by 4 teenagers aged between 19 and 24.

Background

Richard Ogunderu, Kabir Adenuga, Benneth Oluwadaisi and Kenny Rasaq-Lawal boarded the flight initially planned to fly from Lagos to Abuja, with passengers including top government officials among them Rong Yiren, the vice president of China, and Nigerian government officials.

The hijackers had planned to divert the aircraft to Frankfurt, Germany. However, the plane needed to stop over for refueling in Niamey, Niger Republic. When the flight landed at the Diori Hamani International Airport in Niamey, the hijackers announced that the flight had been taken over by "Movement for the Advancement of Democracy in Nigeria". The hijackers demanded that the Nigerian military-backed interim government resign and name Moshood Abiola as the president. Other demands from the hijackers included address the unresolved murder of Dele Giwa, the founding Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch Magazine and reinvestigate the cause of flight NAF911 crash in 1992. The four hijackers said they would set the Airbus A310 on fire in 72 hours if this demand was not met. After two hours of negotiations they freed 129 people, including Rong Yiren, from the plane and held back the crew and Nigerian government officials.

After four days, the gendarmes invaded the plane and arrested the hijackers. The rescue operation killed crew member Ethel Igwe, while Richard was also injured. Richard, the leader of the hijackers, accused the Nigerian Army of using indiscriminate firepower during the rescue operation.