The Presidency on Tuesday reacted to
rumours making round via social media about the possible cause of last Sunday
Dana plane crash in Lagos citing VIP movement involving Dame Patience Jonathan,
wife of Nigeria’s president.A Dana MD-83 airplane crashed on Sunday in Lagos, killing the 153 people on board and an unknown number of others on the ground.
The plane according to
the rumour being peddled crashed because the airspace was closed for the First
Lady’s movement in Lagos.
In a press statement
signed by Ayo Osinlu, the Special assistant to the President, office of the
First Lady, the presidency said:
“Our attention has been
drawn to the orchestrated plan to politicize the Sunday Dana Air crash in Lagos
in which many people lost their lives, through rumours about the possible cause
of the accident citing VIP movement involving the wife of the President.
“We consider it callous,
inhuman and devilish for anyone to have thought of wrapping such national
calamity in political garb by insinuating that the plane crashed because the
airspace was closed for the First Lady’s movement in Lagos.
“For the avoidance of
doubt, the First Lady arrived Lagos at about 2pm on Saturday, 2nd June, 2012
for a private engagement and was billed to leave for Abuja on Monday, 4th June,
2012.
“In compliance with her
itinerary, the First Lady arrived Lagos on Saturday. She was at a public event
on Sunday when the accident occurred and promptly abandoned the ceremony as a
mark of respect for the victims and retired to the State House, Marina. She
left Lagos at exactly 13.15hrs on Monday, 4th June, 2012, according to
schedule.
“It is therefore
surprising that some mischievous persons will see this moment of National
mourning as an opportunity to blackmail and impugn the First Lady’s integrity.
“This is the time for all
Nigerians to be sober and pray for the repose of the souls of the victims and
not a time to subordinate the interests of our nation to narrow self-serving
interests,” the statement reads.
The statement said that
“Mrs Jonathan had no intention to travel on Sunday and never did. Like all
Nigerians, she has been mourning the dead.”
On board an aero contractors aircraft from Lagos to Abuja over a week ago, as we were about to land, there was an announcement that we may hover in the air for a while cos the vice president of naija was at the airport to land or take off. Something of that nature. Shit happens in naija.
ReplyDelete