Fola Adeola, Vice-Presidential Candidate Of ACN Escapes Death As Campaign Plane Crash-lands In Bauchi

ACN Presidential candidate, Nuhu Ribadu And his running mate, Fola Adeola

The Vice-Presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Fola Adeola, and other party chieftains narrowly escaped death this afternoon in Bauchi, Bauchi State capital.

The near-accident occurred when the chartered airplane conveying Mr. Adeola, the Deputy National Chairman of the party, Boss Mustapha, and the former National Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, Yusuf Alli, to a scheduled rally in Bauchi crash landed due to non-clearance of the airport runway by airport authorities.

Despite receiving an approval to land, the pilot discovered as he descended that the runway of the airport had been taken over by rams and goats. It forced the pilot to force-land, damaging the aircraft. None of the passengers in the plane was seriously hurt.

According to the press release obtained by SaharaReporters, another aircraft conveying the ACN presidential candidate, Nuhu Ribadu, and other leader leaders of the party such as Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was forced to hover in the air for about an hour for the runway to be cleared.

The Director of Media and publicity of the Nuhu Ribadu Campaign Organization, Ibrahim Modibbo condemned the incident.

“We suspect sabotage,” Mr. Modibbo said. “And as a matter of urgency we call for an investigation into the immediate and remote cause of the runway invasion. If not for the expertise of the pilot, we would probably not be saying what we are saying today,”

In the last few years, controls of the nation’s airspace and airports have become one of the political weapons used by those in power to intimidate their opponents. Routinely, planes are left hovering in the air for hours because the president’s plane was sitting idle in an airport. Airport authorities usually site security concerns.

Last December, a plane carrying human rights activists and journalists to the burial of the wife of Edo State governor had to return to Lagos when it was denied landing rights due to what airport authorities called presidential movement. In 2009, another presidential movement kept a Bellview Abuja-bound plane on the air for three hours. Three years before a pilot of a Cessna Citation trainer plane landed on the expressway at Ewekoro, Ogun State, when it was prevented from landing in Lagos due to presidential movement.

Mr. Modibbo urged President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure that airports are safe in the country, not just for himself but for his opponents. “Before the present PDP government is booted out by the people, they should at least ensure that our airports, our roads, and our towns and villages are safe enough for everyone including our candidates and particularly during this electioneering period,” he said.