Sosoliso Flight , 20 Years After : The Day God Gave Me A Second Chance To Live..By CKN

I’ve posted this story years back but feel like refreshing it 20 years after

Date was December 10th 2005 

I booked a Sosoliso flight from Abuja heading back to Lagos 

Few days earlier , I used the same flight from Lagos to Abuja and it was so smooth 

I left my hotel room at Wuse 2 to the airport, with so much excitement 

My excitement was cut short on arrival at the check in point at Nnamdi Azikiwe Intl Airport Abuja

I was told by one of the attendants that my ticket has been cancelled,  I asked why bit she didn’t give me any reasonable explanation 

She only asked me to come back Next day ( That was all )

I felt like crying,  I didn’t have the cash to book a new flight ( the days of cash transfer was not in vogue )

It was later I realized that the flight has been overbooked and diverted to Port Harcourt enroute Lagos 

The airline suddenly had an upsurge in requests for passengers from students of Loyola Jesuit , a high networth ivy school in Abuja , because of that the airline had to dump commoners like us

I pleaded with the staff to just get me a seat , all fail in deaf ears 

As this was going,  I saw people mingling around a lady bound for the same flight , she must be a VIP .When I stretched my neck , it was Pastor Bimbo Odukoya . On sighting me , she shouted , Chris where are you heading to , I said Lagos and she wished me safe flight , warning that I must see her in Lagos because according to her , I have been dodging her ,I was the AGM Marketing & Public Relations Manager of CTL , the first and most popular Internet Service Provider using MMDS technology in the whole of Africa then  ( Supernet300)

I promised to see her soon

After all attempts to secure my seat on Sosoliso failed 

I picked a cab back to Abuja , paid for another hotel waiting to depart

Few hours later , I saw a breaking news on AIT ( scrolling ) ..SOSOLISO FLIGHT HAS CRASHED AT PORT HARCOURT AIRPORT 

It happened that the same flight I missed, heading to Lagos via Port Harcourt has crashed

All passengers except two survived 

Pastor Bimbo and all the kids from that school lost their lives in that unfortunate incident 

A particular family lost 3 of their children 

That was how God gave me a second chance to live 

Quite unfortunate 

We’ll not die before our time in Jesus mighty name 

Pictures Below

 1. My flight ticket.I still kept it as a remembrance of God’s grace in my life 

2. One of the two survivors of the crash

3. Sosoliso Plane 

Ckn is a journalist , UK Certified Chartered Arbitrator, and Law Graduate