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Nigeria: Yar'Adua Yet to Get Report On Missing Aircraft
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This Day (Lagos)
14 May 2008
Posted to the web 14 May 2008
Chinedu Eze and Juliana Taiwo
Abuja
President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua is yet to get the report of the investigative panel set up to probe the missing aircraft saga, THISDAY has learnt.
Presidential spokesman, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, told THISDAY that the President was shocked by media reports yesterday that he (Yar'Adua) had ordered the arrest of aviation chiefs over an alleged doctoring of the transcript of the Voice Flight Record between the pilot of the missing Beechcraft plane and the control tower of the Port Harcourt Airport.
The reports, which the Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers' Association (NATCA) has described as "mischievous", also said the President had ordered the State Security Service (SSS) to quiz officials of the National Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) over the allegation.
"How can the President order the arrest of anybody when he is yet to receive the report of the panel investigating the issue?" Adeniyi asked, explaining that until the report is submitted, the President could not take any action.
"The National Security Adviser (Gen. Serki Mukhtar), whose department is overseeing the investigations, is also surprised by these media reports because the committee is still carrying out its probe. The report is supposed to be presented in three weeks, so there is no iota of truth in the speculations."
THISDAY was informed last night that a Federal Government official, who had been lobbying for five years to take over as the Director-General of NAMA, was behind the speculations.
Reports had said a "reliable presidency source" disclosed that the Federal Government had ordered SSS to arrest and interrogate "with immediate effect" officials of NAMA over their roles in the alleged doctoring of the transcript.
Those said to have been invited for interrogation included the Director General of NAMA, Captain Ado Sanusi, Director, Air Traffic Services, Mr. Olopha B. Stephen, Director, Technical Services, Engineer Eze, and General Manager, Search and Rescue, Mr. A Adedara.
The source said the order came following the discovery made by the Technical Committee set up by Yar'Adua to investigate the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the aircraft belonging to Wings Aviation.
The source said in addition to the doctoring the Voice Flight Transcript, the tape containing the conversation between the pilot of the missing aircraft and the Port Harcourt Control tower had been erased after the accident.
The Beechcraft 1900D had gone missing on Saturday, March 15, 2008, while on its way to Obudu from Lagos.
Yesterday, NATCA described as "mischievous" the allegation that the transcript of the voice flight record was doctored.
In a press statement made available to THISDAY and signed by the president and general secretary, Messrs. Jibrin Irahim and Akujuobi Martin respectively, it stated that "there was no iota of truth in the media report that the pilot of the missing airplane may have been misled by air traffic control; a situation, such report claims, may have led to the present fate of the aircraft."
The body further said the insinuations about the cleared flight levels to the aircraft by the air traffic control vis-à-vis the minimum safe altitude of the aircraft location were "unprofessional", especially the assumption that the clearance might have led to a crash.
It said: "The present status of the aircraft in the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) Annex 13 is that of a 'missing aircraft'. It has not been established as at this time that the aircraft has crashed.
"Authors of the 'minimum safe altitude' theory should reserve their arguments until it is established that the aircraft has crashed and investigation into the cause(s) of the crash commences."
The controllers also observed that the handling of the investigation of the accident so far has fallen short of the provision of ICAO Annex 13, on the Investigation of Aircraft Accident and Incident and Document 6920 (Manual of Aircraft Accident Investigation).
It noted: "That the media report already apportioned blames on the cause(s) of the accident well ahead of the conclusion of investigation is a violation of the provision of the ICAO Annex 13, Chapter 3, paragraph 3.1. Also the present publicity is a violation of Chapter 6, paragraph 6.2 of the said ICAO Annex 13."
The association also noted that it is unprofessional for any persons or group to resort to preemptive or speculative reporting/disclosure of information on highly technical and sensitive issue like aircraft accident.
It advised the Federal Government against any premature action that would harass or intimidate any person or jeopardise the chances of carrying out a professional and result-oriented investigation into the missing aircraft.
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Last week, the chairman of the technical committee on the missing, AVM S. A. Atawodi, had told journalists after their sitting at the Presidential Lounge of the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos, that the committee would not make any press statement until after its investigation.
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