The All Progressives Congress and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria on Sunday engaged in a verbal war over the failure to grant landing right to a private jet conveying chieftains of the APC to Gombe, Gombe State.
The aircraft on approach to landing on Thursday, was prevented from landing by the airport control officers.
While the APC said it viewed the act as sabotage, FAAN explained it did not get any notification that the aircraft was going in the direction of Gombe and that it had earlier sent out a notification that there was a maintenance going on at the airport.
FAAN said it was surprised that the pilot of the aircraft claimed it did not get the alert of the repairs at the airport.
“In view of the seriousness of this unprecedented act, the willful endangering of the lives of those on board the aircraft that was deliberately prevented from landing and the fact that the action contravenes global aviation standards, we call for a comprehensive investigation of the incident by the National Assembly,” the APC said in a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Ahaji Lai Mohammed.
It added: “The investigation is necessary to ensure that Nigeria’s airspace does not become another weapon in the hands of a desperate administration. After all, the authorities know those who were aboard the plane as well as their mission in Gombe. We make bold to say that the politicization of air safety is worse than the alleged training of snipers by the Jonathan administration.”
The APC also criticised the spokesman for the aviation agencies, Yakubu Dati, who said the airport was closed for a routine operation to check fire tenders.
Mohammed said it is either the spokesman did not know what he was saying or he was being economical with the truth.
“Either way, he has shown by his unprofessional comments that he is qualified to do everything but speak for the aviation agencies,” the party said.
The statement said an aviation spokesman worth his salt must surely know that an emergency drill does not at any time involve parking a fire truck on the runway and that such drills are conducted to enhance safety not to jeopardize it.
The party also said Dati must also know that fire trucks are not tested for serviceability on the runway, but at their parking bays in the fire stations.
The APC said if indeed the airport needed to be closed for whatever reason, a Notice to Airmen should have been issued to inform all operators and users of the airport of the situation and the air traffic controllers, being aware of the situation, should have then advised the pilot well in advance, maybe even at time the captain filed his flight plan.
The party added: “The investigation being sought must therefore find out if and when a NOTAM was issued by the Gombe Airport; whether or not Kano and Abuja got the notice; if they did, why did they still clear the flight for takeoff and en route? Definitely, the captain of the airline must have filed a fight plan before takeoff; and Abuja must have cleared it for takeoff. Further investigation will reveal whether the necessary steps were taken by those involved, while appropriate sanctions must be meted out to erring officials, including the glaringly ineffectual and pliant supervising Minister.”
It said those who are seeking to turn Nigerian aviation to kangaroo aviation must be made to know that international aviation bodies are watching the lawlessness that some unscrupulous officials are now introducing into the conduct of safety standards
The statement said: “Aviation has no room for politics. Even at the height of the Cold War, US commercial planes were not barred from the airspace of the USSR and vice versa. The flight that was, apparently, deliberately prevented from landing at the Gombe Airport could have come from anywhere, even beyond the country’s borders. It could have been a flight in distress in which case the sequence of events and their aftermath would have been a tragedy, a man-made tragedy.”
The party wondered what would have happened if the plane bearing the APC officials, led by a former Minister of State for Power and Steel, Murtala Aliyu, could not land in Bauchi and did not have enough fuel to return to Abuja, adding that the action of those who blocked the runway with a fire truck was irresponsible, reckless and apparently choreographed to induce an emergency and, probably, a crash.
Mohammed added in the statement: “This politics-gone-awry is another indication of the desperation of the Jonathan-led administration to stifle the opposition at all cost and should be condemned by all right thinking people everywhere. It is the latest in a series of acts of impunity by a drowning government. Our teeming supporters should however note that we will neither be intimidated nor shaken by these acts.”
FAAN, however, said the position of the APC was totally wrong.
In a statement by Dati on Sunday, FAAN said: “The attention of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria has been drawn to a mischievous and obviously misleading story in some sections of the media alleging that a chartered aircraft conveying some officials of the All Progressive Congress (APC) to Gombe was denied landing right at the Gombe Airport on Thursday, December 2, 2014 by officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria.
“The fact is that Gombe Airport is not a 24hour airport which means that the airport’s runway is not open for flight operations, both scheduled and unscheduled, for 24 hours and a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) to that effect is well known to concerned stakeholders in the industry.
“With the permission of the control tower, maintenance and security surveillance operations take place on the runway at periods when the runway is not active. This is a standard practice in the industry. One of such operations was taking place on the airport’s runway in the morning of Thursday, December 2, 2014 and unfortunately the fire truck used for that operation, belonging to the Gombe State Government, broke down on the runway.
“While efforts were being made by our engineering staff to remove the truck from the runway, the control tower at the Gombe Airport was notified of the incident and a new, specific NOTAM was issued by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), to alert airmen of that incident for the purpose of asking them to stay away from the airport for a specified period of that day, in the overall interest of safety. The fire truck was removed from the runway in less than an hour after the breakdown of the fire truck.
“It is still unclear to us why the pilot of that chartered aircraft did not receive the said NOTAM until he got overhead Gombe Airport. This situation is being investigated by relevant authorities in the industry.
“It is however unfortunate and sad that a former Minister of the country, who was not conversant with the technicalities of the incident could conclude and cause to be published in the media that the incident was politically motivated.
“We hereby ask the general public to discountenance that story and again wish to restate that aviation industry globally is guided strictly by the principle of safety for human lives and no reasonable agency in the industry anywhere in the world, including FAAN would sacrifice precious human lives and professionalism on the altar of politics.”
Trending
- Traditional ruler shot dead inside palace
- Primate Ayodele to Yoruba Nation agitators: You can’t break Nigeria
- Police intercept bags of Indian Hemp at Lagos jetty
- Enugu, families to give Ibu, Junior Pope befitting burial
- Police arrest suspects for attempting to disrupt inauguration of commissioners
- Police rescue three children locked up by grandmother + Photo
- Police foil attack in Katsina, neutralise suspected bandit
- US vetoes Palestine’s request for full UN membership