On 25 October 1993, Nigeria Airways Flight WT470 was nearing Abuja when four passengers turned a routine domestic flight into an international political crisis.
They had boarded the aircraft carrying toy pistols, but also petrol, lighters, tear gas and knives. Their weapons were not all firearms, but the threat they posed was real.
The men were Richard Ogunderu, Kabir Adenuga, Benneth Oluwadaisi and Kenny Rasaq Lawal. They said they were acting for the Movement for the Advancement of Democracy, MAD, an organisation opposed to Nigeria’s military dominated political order.
Their target was not the airline.
It was the Nigerian government.
Their demand was rooted in one of the country’s deepest political crises: the annulment of the 12 June 1993 presidential election, won by M.K.O. Abiola.
Their intended destination was Frankfurt.
They never got there.
Instead, Flight WT470 landed in Niamey, Niger, where the hijackers and security forces faced off for several days.
The crisis ended with the arrest of the four men and the death of a crew member.
The Political Crisis Behind the Hijacking
The story began months before anyone boarded Flight WT470.
On 12 June 1993, Nigerians voted in a presidential election that many hoped would end years of military rule. M.K.O. Abiola, the Social Democratic Party candidate, emerged as the winner.
Before the result could produce a transfer of power, military ruler General Ibrahim Babangida annulled the election.
The decision triggered protests, strikes and widespread political unrest.
Babangida eventually stepped aside in August, but civilian government did not return. Ernest Shonekan headed an Interim National Government that opponents of military rule regarded as an inadequate substitute for the democratic transition they had demanded.
It was against this backdrop that the Movement for the Advancement of Democracy became associated with the four men who would seize the aircraft.
Their hijacking was an extreme attempt to force international attention onto Nigeria’s political crisis.
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Four Passengers, One Plan
Flight WT470 was a Nigeria Airways Airbus A310 travelling from Lagos to Abuja.
The four men had planned to take control near the end of the flight.
According to Richard Ogunderu’s later account, the group waited until the aircraft was close to Abuja before making their move. Ogunderu approached the cockpit with a written statement while another hijacker displayed what appeared to be a firearm.
The weapon was a toy.
The pilots did not know that.
Inside an aircraft, appearance was enough to create the necessary fear.
Ogunderu later said the men also possessed petrol, lighters, tear gas and knives. Those items meant that the absence of real firearms did not make the situation harmless.
The hijackers announced that they had taken control of the aircraft in the name of the Movement for the Advancement of Democracy.
Their message was political.
Their aircraft was now their platform.
They Wanted Frankfurt
The hijackers ordered the pilots to fly to Frankfurt, Germany.
The pilots explained that the aircraft did not have enough fuel to reach the destination without stopping.
The aircraft therefore headed toward Niamey, Niger, eventually landing at Diori Hamani International Airport.
What had begun as a Lagos to Abuja flight had crossed an international border.
That was exactly the kind of attention the hijackers had wanted.
But once the aircraft was on the ground, the balance of power began to change.
Nigerien authorities surrounded the plane while negotiations began.
The Passengers Became Bargaining Chips
The hijackers demanded political changes in Nigeria. Contemporary accounts linked their demands to the June 12 election and the restoration of democratic government. They also raised grievances involving the killing of journalist Dele Giwa and the crash of Nigerian Air Force aircraft NAF 911.
Among the people aboard was Rong Yiren, then Vice President of China.
Passengers were gradually released, leaving the remaining crew and selected occupants as leverage in the negotiations.
For those passengers, the distinction between a real gun and a toy was irrelevant at the time. They were trapped aboard an aircraft controlled by men who had demonstrated that they were prepared to threaten its destruction.
The crisis was now being reported internationally.
Four Days in Niamey
The standoff lasted several days.
Negotiations failed to produce the political outcome the hijackers wanted, and Nigerien authorities eventually prepared to end the occupation by force.
On 28 October 1993, security forces stormed the aircraft.
The four hijackers were captured.
But the operation had a fatal consequence.
Ethel Igwe, a member of the aircraft’s crew, was killed during the assault. Ogunderu was injured.
The death transformed the story from an extraordinary political hijacking into a tragedy with a permanent human cost.
Nine Years in Prison
The four hijackers were imprisoned in Niger.
They remained there for years, eventually being released in 2002.
By then, the Nigeria they had tried to challenge had changed dramatically.
Just weeks after their hijacking, on 17 November 1993, General Sani Abacha removed Ernest Shonekan and took power.
Nigeria entered another period of military rule.
The four men had demanded democracy.
Instead, the country moved deeper into military government.
The eventual return to civilian rule came in 1999, after years of political repression and the death of Abiola in detention in 1998.
The People Who Were Almost Forgotten
The four hijackers became the centre of the story, but they were not the only people affected.
Passengers found themselves caught in a political struggle they had not chosen. The pilots and cabin crew had to manage an aircraft controlled by armed looking men while negotiations unfolded thousands of kilometres from home.
And Ethel Igwe lost her life during the final attempt to free them.
There was also confusion after the hijacking about who had actually been responsible. In later years, former officials of the Federal University of Technology, Akure disputed claims that some students had been among the hijackers, saying students had been wrongly implicated and detained after the incident.
That part of the aftermath illustrates how quickly rumours can become attached to major historical events.
Why the Toy Guns Became the Story
The toy pistols are what make the hijacking sound almost unbelievable.
But they were only one part of the operation.
The real significance lies in how effectively the hijackers used fear, political grievance and control of an aircraft to turn a domestic dispute into an international event.
They did not reach Frankfurt.
They did not restore the June 12 election result.
They spent years in prison.
And the political system they opposed survived the crisis.
Yet for several days, Nigeria’s democratic struggle was being discussed around the world because four young men had forced it into the international spotlight.
From Historical Event to Film
The hijacking returned to popular attention in 2024 with the release of the Nigerian film Hijack ’93.
The film dramatized the incident for a new generation, but the real history is more complicated than any screenplay.
The actual aircraft was a Nigeria Airways Airbus A310, and the four hijackers were Richard Ogunderu, Kabir Adenuga, Benneth Oluwadaisi and Kenny Rasaq Lawal.
Their story does not need fictional embellishment.
Four young men boarded a domestic flight.
They carried toy guns and other dangerous materials.
They seized the aircraft near Abuja.
They forced it into Niger.
They held passengers and crew hostage for days.
And when the standoff ended, a crew member was dead.
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The Legacy of Flight WT470
The 1993 hijacking was born from a moment when Nigeria’s political institutions were under enormous strain.
The annulment of June 12 had convinced many Nigerians that conventional political avenues had failed. The four hijackers responded with an extraordinary and dangerous act that placed innocent passengers and crew at risk.
Their political grievances belong to the history of Nigeria’s democracy struggle.
So do the consequences of their chosen method.
Flight WT470 ultimately became more than a hijacked aircraft. For several days, it carried Nigeria’s political crisis across an international border and forced the world to pay attention.
The toy guns explain how four young men were able to seize control.
The June 12 crisis explains the political environment in which they acted.
And the death of Ethel Igwe remains the starkest reminder that behind every political confrontation are ordinary people whose lives can be changed by decisions they never made.
Author’s Note
The story of Nigeria Airways Flight WT470 is ultimately a story about political frustration, extraordinary risk and human consequences. In October 1993, four young Nigerians used toy pistols and other dangerous materials to seize an aircraft and demand democratic change after the annulment of the June 12 election. Their actions brought international attention to Nigeria’s political crisis, but also endangered passengers and crew and ended with the death of Ethel Igwe. Their subsequent imprisonment lasted until 2002, long after Nigeria’s political landscape had changed. Remembering the episode means remembering both the democratic struggle that shaped their motives and the human cost of the method they chose.
References
The New York Times, “Foes of Nigeria Rulers Hijack Plane to Niger,” 26 October 1993.
The New York Times, “Hijackers of a Nigerian Jet Are Captured After 3 Days,” 28 October 1993.
BBC World Service, Witness History, “The 1993 MAD Hijack.”
Archivi.ng, “Four Young Nigerians Did Not Like an Election’s Outcome, So They Hijacked a Plane,” 25 October 2024.
The Punch, “My Son, Three Friends Don’t Regret Hijacking Nigerian Airways Plane With Toy Guns Over Annulment of 1993 Election,” 26 October 2024.
International Centre for Investigative Reporting, “Flashback: How Four Teenagers Hijacked a Nigeria Airways Plane for MKO Abiola,” 25 October 2017.
U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review, country information report concerning Nigeria and the 1993 Nigeria Airways hijacking.
The Guardian Nigeria, “June 12: Babangida’s Regret Too Little, Too Late, Says Nigeria Airways Flight Hijackers,” 12 March 2025.
BusinessDay, “Hello 20 10 2020? 1993 Called, and It Wants Richard Ogunderu Back,” 20 October 2021.
Nigerian Tribune, “How We Carried Out the 1993 Nigerian Airways Hijack, Ogunderu.”
