Senator Rashidi Ladoja
Former Oyo State Governor, Rasheed Ladoja and some delegates to the ongoing national conference escaped death Monday when an Overland Airways plane they were initially flying to Abuja, had its windshield damaged while approaching Niger airspace.
An eyewitness account revealed that the plane, with registration number 5NBPE, took off at 8am with 48 people from Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, and had to make a detour to the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.
It was also gathered that one of the passengers involved in the incident narrated that some of the passengers fainted on hearing the bad news.
According to him, after about three hours stay in Lagos, the passengers were moved
into another Overland aircraft arriving from Enugu.
Aside Ladoja, other passengers including some delegates, were a former President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Comrade Lanre Ogundipe; Senators Gbenga Kaka from Ogun State and Hosea Agboola from Oyo State as well as Mr. Demola Akinlabi, an officer in the Accountant- General of the Federation’s Office. Others include the Oyo State Commissioner for Information, Prince Gbade Lana and a Federal National Population Commissioner, Alhaji Abdul-Lateef Gbadamosi.
Reacting to the incident, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA, explained why the aircraft flight 1170 made an air return to Lagos.
NAMA General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr. Supo Atobatele, in a statement stated that the ATR-42 aircraft diverted from Ibadan en-route Abuja to Lagos early yesterday morning due to a reported cracked windshield.
The spokesman further stated that the plane was airborne around 8.42am and diverted by 8.57am, landing in Lagos at 9.43am.
“There were 42 passengers and six crew members onboard the aircraft as at the time of the incident.
“There is no cause for alarm as the diversion was precautionary and this conforms to the basic safety norms of the industry,” he said.
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