APC calls Gombe Airport blockage ‘act of sabotage’

Party says Aviation sector should not be politicised

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has described the blockage of the Gombe Airport, which prevented a plane carrying its officials from landing on Thursday, as ‘a clear act of sabotage and a dent on Nigeria’s air safety standards. It also called for an investigation of the incident.

”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 party said in a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed.

The party said the investigation was necessary to ensure that Nigeria’s airspace did not become another weapon in the hands of a “desperate administration.” It accused authorities of knowing 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,” it said.

APC also criticised the spokesperson for the aviation agencies, Yakubu Dati, who reportedly said the airport was closed for a routine operation to check fire tenders. The party said it was either the spokesperson 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.

It added that an aviation spokesperson worth his salt would know that an emergency drill did not at any time involve parking a fire truck on the runway, and that such drills were conducted to enhance safety, not to jeopardise it.

He must also know that fire trucks are not tested for serviceability on the runway, but at their parking bays in the fire stations, APC said.

The party insisted that if indeed the airport needed to be closed for whatever reason, a Notice to Airmen, NOTAM, should have been issued to inform all operators and users of the airport of the situation; and that 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 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,” the party said.

It stated that those seeking to turn Nigerian aviation to “kangaroo aviation” must be made to know that international aviation bodies were watching the lawlessness that some unscrupulous officials were now introducing into the conduct of safety standards.

”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,” APC said.

The party wondered what would have happened if the plane bearing the APC officials, led by 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.

It deemed the action of those who blocked the runway with a fire truck as irresponsible, reckless and apparently choreographed to induce an emergency and, probably, a crash.

”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,” the APC said.