2012 DANA PLANE CRASH: Agba Not Complicit, AIB Report Authenticated By FGN

Ofem Uket

The ill-fated Dana Plane crash of 2012 was a deep blow to the Nation as several lives were lost arising from faulty and technical defects of the airlines conveying aviation passengers from Abuja to Lagos in Nigeria, some of which were top officials of government on national assignment.

The final report of the Accident Investigation Bureau AIB, as authenticated by the Federal Government sufficiently analyzed the dual failure of the engine, and that, the aircraft could not have been flown from Calabar to Abuja to convey passengers from Abuja to Lagos almost immediately for faulty reasons.

Again, the facts were made public, and Gody Jeddy Agba, a seating minister of state power, was not mentioned in the AIB report either as one who master minded or orchestrated the ill-fated air crash which ugly memories still lives with the families of those who lost their lives and by extension the Nigerian state, especially the aviation industry.

Eight years down the lane, an obscured magazine named “Power Steering” has alleged that Gody Jeddy Agba was responsible for the Dana Plane crash to cover up tracks of alleged corrupt practices while serving as Group General Manager Crude Marketing at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC.

Sadly, the publication which was made in July this year has maligned the character of the minister with a view to deliver on the perceived attacks which were sponsored by political opponents that will stop at nothing to pull down all those who have in some ways distinguished themselves in the public service for the country.

The publisher of the obscurity Magazine Mr. Tom Oga Uhia who is currently being prosecuted by the police for alleging that the police had received bribes from Agba to suppress investigation into the matter as at the time of the air crash, has in all ethical conduct violated the provisions of the ethics of journalism through misrepresentation of facts.

The bitter truth the magazine ignored is the AIB report which was painstakingly carried out by experts and the report was not faulted by relevant authorities in Nigeria, neither was the report contested by people like Tom, the publisher of the obscured magazine.

Gody Jeddy Agba is Nigerian minister of state for power, he was appointed into office by President Muhammadu Buhari in August2019, he became a member of the Federal cabinet and since assumption of office, he has shown the willingness and competence towards the resuscitation of the power sector.

He was among a few Nigerians who worked patriotically to implement the oil and gas reforms at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC, with indelible mark of high level performance and accountability in the sale of crude oil that has been the major source of revenue earning in the country up until today, his track and performance records are irascible.

To put the records straight, the minister was not in any way part of the alleged travelling arrangements of the NNPC staff, through Dana airlines as concocted by the magazine, which could not extrapolate its ill intended blackmail and sponsored attack against genuine actor in the Nigerian political scene.

It is therefore important to note that Tom is being held by the police in the order of the court until he is granted bail, the minister has since disassociated himself from the said detention of the publisher, as the police is said to have secured warrant of arrest to bring him to justice.

However, some of the contributions of the minister to National development are clearly seen in his commitment to the Federal Government negotiating team in the reduction of electricity tariffs, a major concern of the state and its citizen, which clearly defines deep political governance involvement to actualize a productive sector.