US Marks Terror Attack, Remembers Three Nigerians

Americans yesterday commemorated the  September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

Three Nigerians, who died after al Qaida terrorists slammed passenger jets into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre (WTC) in New York, were also remembered as their names were engraved at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York.

They were; Mr Godwin Ajala, 33, Mr Ignatius Udo Adanga, 62, and Ms Olabisi Shadie Layeni-Yee.

Ajala was a Nigerian lawyer who migrated to the U.S. in 1995. He was working as a security officer at the World Trade Centre and some close associates said he was preparing to take his New York State Bar examination before his untimely death.

Adanga was a staff of the planning department of the Metropolitan Transportation Council at the World Trade Centre. He left Lagos as young man, moved to Liberia and Germany, before migrating to New York some two decades before 2001.

Layeni-Yee, who worked at the World Trade Centre as an assistant manager for International Office Centres, started work there in 1993.

On Sept. 11, she was reported to have phoned her mum, Edith Layeni, who lived in Newark, shortly before the WTC collapsed.

In New York, President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, led the country to observe a moment of silence at 8.46 a.m local time to coincide with the exact time one of the hijacked planes hit the World Trade Centre in 2001.

Additional periods of silence were observed at 9.59 a.m. and 10.28 a.m. to mark the moments that the two towers at the World Trade Centre fell.

At the commemoration ceremony held at the National September 11 Memorial located at the World Trade Centre site in New York, Obama read a passage from Psalm 46.

The scripture affirms: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

Former President George W. Bush, who was in charge during the 2011 attack, also attended the solemn event with his wife, Laura.

Relatives of victims who died in the attack read out their names at the ceremony amid tears and outbursts of emotion.

In a related development, a memorial service to honour the victims of the 9/11 attack on the U.S. was held at the Church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr in Moscow.

The U.S. Ambassador to Russia, John Beyrle, in an emotional speech, said “people, for the sake of their children, should join forces to build a world in which terrorists would not be able to justify their actions or to find refuge.

“The U.S. remembers how people were bringing flowers, icons and toys to its embassies all over the world, including  Moscow, after the attacks,” Beyrle said.

People in all countries denounced the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, as well as the Beslan and Nord Ost tragedies, he added.

The American ambassador said that the fight against terrorism involved those who believed in tolerance and love and those who were on the side of hatred and fear.

Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, speaking at the sixth session of the Valdai Discussion Club, said: “Russia is mourning the victims of the September 11 attacks, just as we did back in 2001.

“We mourn the victims of the September 11 attacks, just as we did back in 2001. Like no other country. Russia knows what a terrorist act is like. On September 3, we too commemorated those killed in terror attacks in Russia.

“It’s yet another reminder that we have to put aside any differences and join forces in the face of common challenges,” Putin added.