The Secretary General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede; and a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ali Dodo, were among the 59 persons onboard when a jet in the fleet of Overland Airways crash landed at the Ilorin International Airport, Ilorin, Kwara State on Saturday.
Oloyede was also a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, also in Kwara State.
The aircraft was said to be enroute Abuja to Lagos.
It was meant to have stopovers in Ilorin and Ibadan before the flight terminates in Lagos.
The Eagle Online was told that undercarriage of the aircraft failed to come out as it approached landing.
The aircraft was meant to discharge passengers stopping at Ilorin and pick those heading to Ibadan and Lagos.
There had been no official statement from the airline as at the time of filing this report.
However, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority confirmed the development.
The NCAA’s General Manager Public Affairs, Fan Ndubuoke, said in a statement: “An Overland flight 1186, an ATR 72 aircraft with registration number 5N-BPG from Abuja airport to Ilorin carrying fifty nine (59) passengers and four (4) crew veered off the runway at low speed after a normal landing at the Ilorin Airport.”
The incident was said to have occurred at 4.45pm with no casualty recorded.
Nonetheless, Ndubuoke said that the Accident Investigation and Prevention Bureau in conjunction with the NCAA has launched an investigation into the cause of the incident.
Ndubuoke reassured Nigerians that the safety of the traveling public still remained paramount and will not be compromised.
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