The air hostesses were mystified. They stood in stunned silence staring at the frail child and the woman.
But the child's piercing cry brought them back to reality, and they all scrambled to the woman's aid.
The woman was Sandra obi. A 27 old year old Nigerian nurse. Her husband was a 29 year old black Americans mechanic, Dennis grasham.
Sandra had left her husband in the United States and was on her way to Nigeria to have a long awaited get together with her family.
The two air hostesses and four female passengers that had rushed to the toilet, remembered the woman clearly. Her bulging belly had been too big to miss. They had remembered her from earlier when she was boarding the plane with them and had unintentionally let go of her bag, which tumbled down the expendable air port stairs.
One of the hostesses immediately rushed to the wash basin, filled a tray she was holding with water, and rushed back to the other women.
An elderly woman among the passengers was busy, carefully trying to separate the mother and child by severing the umblical cord. While the others huddled around them, peering inquisitively and anxiously at the whole thing.
By now, most of the male passengers were beginning to troupe to the toilet to see what was happening. But each of them that peers in would hastily withdrew his head as fast, make a U-turn and begin to walk back to his seat. This is a women thing.
After about 23 minutes of tense and anxious running about, mother and baby were finally cleaned up.
The child was a boy. He stared blankly and blindly at the intrigued faces peering into his face. He was handed over to his mother, who took him in her arms and stared lovingly at the cute boy in her hands.
As Sandra took in all the handsome features of her new offspring, a name clicked in her head. She would call him Henry. "Yes, Henry."
The plane made a low bumping noise as it touched down on the runway of the nnamdi azikiwe international airport, Abuja. It raced forward for a few minutes, before slowly grinding to a halt.
One hundred and ninety-seven they were when they took off about six hours ago from George international airport, new York. But one hundred and ninety-eight they were when they landed in nnamdi azikiwe international airport, abuja.
One tiny innocent soul had joined them on the flight across the atlantic.
And thus as the law states, because he was born aboard a Nigerian plane and above Nigerian air space, automatically, he is a Nigerian citizen by birth.
That was 29 years ago.
* * *
The fair looking man strode into the building with powerful strides. His shoes were barely making contact with the tiled floor as he marched on.
At 6ft3 and weighing nearly 231 pounds of raw muscle and strength, few could stand up to the man in an all out physical combat.
Henry took the hallway to his right and continued walking.