Following a statement credited to the younger brother to late former Ondo State governor, Dr. Olusegun Agagu, Femi that the Agagu family was not responsible for hiring the Associated Airline plane which crash-landed last Thursday in Lagos, while conveying the body of the former governor to Akure for the commencement of the burial rites and killing 15 persons in the process, the Ondo State government has come out to explain its role in the matter.
In a statement issued by the Commissioner for Information, Kayode Akinmade in Akure, the government said the reaction would not have been necessary at the time the state and families are still mourning those who lost their lives in the crash, but for inaccurate media reports.
It explained that its determination to give the former governor a befitting state burial made it set up a burial committee, which met regularly with the family of the deceased to arrive at a burial programme agreeable to the family.
At one of the meetings, the statement said, the issue of the transportation of the body from Lagos to Akure was discussed. “The committee deferred to the family’s insistence that the body be moved to Akure by air. The family thereafter introduced Mr. Tunji Okusanya (now deceased) of MIC Funeral as the official undertaker, who would make necessary arrangements regarding the movement of the body and the funeral.”
“Thereafter”, the statement further explained, “the MIC boss forwarded the names of various airlines through an e-mail message to the Committee, namely, Aero Contractor; OAS Helicopters; Chachangi; Arik; Dana; and IRS as the Airline operators that have been contacted.”
“It was indicated in his message that IRS was not available for conveying human remains; Dana aircraft had gone for maintenance; and Arik does not fly the Akure route”. He, therefore, suggested Chachangi as “the best offer”.
The government further indicated that it was neither the wish nor the prerogative of government to indicate any preference for a particular airline stressing that the interface with MIC at the instance of the family, was necessary for facilitation of payment, insisting that “at no time was Associated Airline mentioned.
Stating that the government made these clarifications against its wish, the statement emphasized that “this is definitely not the time for this as we are still mourning.” adding that “It is pathetic losing any soul in the course of paying homage to our former governor, particularly government officials and other bread winners of their families, including the Managing Director of MIC, his son, and other workers of his company.”
The government thanked the Federal Government for ordering a thorough investigation into the crash in order to prevent the occurrence of such tragedies in the future, imploring the team of investigators to leave no stone unturned in the course of their investigation.
