The True Story of Hijack ’93: Why 4 Young Men Hijacked a Nigerian Plane in 1993 — And Where They Are Now

Netflix’s Hijack ‘93 fictionalizes the gripping true story of four young adults who hijacked a plane to protest their government’s actions.

On Oct. 25, 1993, Richard Ogunderu, Kabir Adenuga, Benneth Oluwadaisi and Kenny Rasaq-Lawal boarded a Nigeria Airways flight from Lagos to Abuja with a mission: to demand the restoration of democracy in Nigeria. Over the course of three days, they held over 100 passengers and crew members hostage while they made demands to the government.

The hijacking ended with their arrest following a military raid, leading them to serve over nine years in prison. More than three decades later, they’ve become the inspiration behind Netflix’s movie adaptation, Hijack ’93, directed by Robert Peters and released in October 2024. As for being the subject of a movie, Adenuga told The Nollywood Reporter in September 2023 that “it’s a great initiative.”

“The movie would go a long way in educating the youth of today,” he said. “This is a part of our history. I want them to be inspired in continuing to fight for a better nation.”

But, why did these four young men hijack a plane in 1993? Here is everything to know about the Nigerian Airways hijack and where the co-conspirators are today.

What happened during the 1993 Nigerian Airways hijack?

In October 1993, the Associated Press reported that a Nigerian Airways flight carrying between 135 and 137 passengers, including government officials, had been hijacked by four men, per Neusroom. The hijackers initially aimed to land in Frankfurt, Germany, but low fuel forced them to land in Niger, where the Nigerian military prevented another takeoff.

The hijackers held passengers and crew hostage, threatening to set the Airbus A310 on fire within 72 hours unless their demands were met — which included the resignation of Nigeria’s military-backed government.

Ogunderu told The Nollywood Reporter in July 2023 that the demands were outlined on flyers he brought on board, including additional asks such as the government returning allegedly embezzled money to the state and the reopening of a closed newspaper company and universities.

The hijackers released 129 hostages before the Nigerian Army and Air Force stormed the plane, capturing the hijackers and rescuing the remaining passengers and crew members, as reported by The New York Times. However, they also reported that one crew member was killed, and four or five others were wounded during the operation.

Who were the four men responsible for the 1993 Nigerian Airways hijack?

The four young men responsible for the 1993 Nigerian Airways hijack were Richard Ogunderu, 19, and Kabir Adenuga, Benneth Oluwadaisi and Kenny Rasaq-Lawal, who were all in their early 20s.

At the time, Ogunderu dreamed of becoming a marine engineer and had plans to further his education in Canada before he became involved in the hijacking through his association with Jerry Yusuf, founder of the Movement for the Advancement of Democracy (MAD), as he shared with The Nollywood Reporter in July 2023.

In October 2024, Ogunderu’s father, Yemi, told Punch that he had no knowledge of his son’s plan to hijack a plane. He had shared with Neusroom in June 2022 that he didn’t even know Ogunderu had become a member of MAD, and finding out about the incident was his “rudest shock.”

“Imagine a young man of 19 without prior military training, now giving to violence,” Yemi said. “It was like the entire world was collapsing on me.”

Yemi continued that his son often tried to engage him in conversations about national issues, sometimes teasing his father’s generation for their perceived inaction.

“He would tell me ‘You old men just sat there bemoaning your fate, won’t you do something about this country?’ ” his father added.

Although Yemi said he had never met the other conspirators, he shared that his son told him they became involved with one another over a common interest about the country’s political state, as they “felt a sense of duty to do something.”

Why did they hijack the plane?

Ogunderu told The Nollywood Reporter that he and the three others were “fighting in the name of democracy” when they hijacked the plane.

The hijacking followed the annulment of Nigeria’s June 12, 1993, presidential election. Although Moshood Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) led his opponent Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC), military ruler Ibrahim Babangida annulled the results, sparking widespread outrage and unrest across Nigeria, per Neusroom.

In a November 2020 interview with the Nigerian Tribune, Ogunderu alleged that the plan was conceived by Yusuf, who gathered the men and proposed the hijack after reading about a similar incident involving a toy gun. Yusuf allegedly suggested they could “do the same here.”

“What actually touched me was the objective: that we wanted to reclaim the stolen mandate, freely given to Chief M.K.O Abiola, by the Nigerian people,” Ogunderu said. “I just believed somebody just had to go and demand that the democratic rights of the people be respected.”

Where are the four men who hijacked the 1993 Nigerian Airways flight now?

The end titles of Hijack ‘93 reveal that all four hijackers were arrested, tried and convicted in Niger, but they have all since completed their sentences.

Adenuga told The Nollywood Reporter in September 2023 that life in prison was “very terrible,” adding that he had to make money from his skills to feed himself and the other hijackers he was imprisoned with.

However, Ogunderu told The Nollywood Reporter in July 2023 that his time in prison was neither particularly good nor bad: “It was just livable.” He explained that he made friends, dedicated himself to Christianity, became a preacher and learned basic French to interact with the close-knit community around him.

Yemi told Neusroom that his son, who spent over nine years in prison, became a well-known figure in Niger for organizing educational tutorials for inmates. “He established an education programme in the prison, which reduced crime rates. When he was released, the Niger people didn’t want him to return to Nigeria,” Yemi said.

In November 2020, Ogunderu told the Nigerian Tribune that he had been working to educate young people about democracy and political engagement through his initiative, the African Youth Organisation.

When asked if had any regrets, Ogunderu said, “I don’t have any regrets taking that action. The only regrets I would have had would have been if I had died, without seeing this democracy that we clamoured for.”

He told The Nollywood Reporter in July 2023 that he met his fiancée, Maria Marello, while studying at Alliance Française in Yaba. He also studied French at the Nigeria French Language Village and attended the Government Science School in Kuru and Grammar School in Ilaje.

Regarding his current life, Ogunderu said, “I am quite happy. I believe we will achieve democracy in its full maturation.”

Meanwhile, Adenuga told The Nollywood Reporter in September 2023 that following his release from prison in 2001, he struggled with what he had done. “It wasn’t easy, but God didn’t kill us, since we were convicted of the sacredness of what we did,” he said.

Little is known about Kenny and Benneth today, but Adenuga told The Nollywood Reporter that they had been communicating on and off on Facebook until he deleted his accounts and lost touch.

“I still miss them,” he said.

How accurate is the Netflix movie Hijack ‘93?

The Netflix adaptation Hijack ‘93 is based on the real events of the 1993 hijacking of a Nigerian Airways flight. Like the real events, top government officials were on the flight, and the hijackers held the crew and passengers hostage to protest the military rule in their country and support the Movement for the Advancement of Democracy.

However, although it follows the same story line, director Peters fictionalized aspects to enhance the narrative, including additional onboard drama (nobody went into labor on the real hijacked plane), altered names for the hijackers and deepened backstories.

Another change is that while the film sees the hijackers smuggle weapons on board secretly through a crew member, in real life, the gun the hijackers used to enter the cockpit was a toy gun, as Ogunderu’s father told Punch in October 2024.

In a final twist of fate, the movie sees the hijackers release women and children and eventually surrender, provided their demands are fulfilled. But in actuality, although they had released many of the hostages over the three days, the hijackers never surrendered and were arrested after a military raid on the aircraft.