Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu allayed concerns on Saturday regarding his safety in the wake of Friday’s incident at Ibadan, Ladoke Akintola Airport in Oyo State.
According to a source close to Platinum Times, Adelabu was unfazed by the event and was in good spirits in Ibadan.
Late on Friday night, the minister and a few of his assistants were on a private plane when it crashed close to the airport.
”The Minister feels the incident is not something to worry about. It was actually a minor thing, and that is how he has taken it,” an aide of the Minister, who asked to stay anonymous, said.
The source said the Minister was particularly not worried by the incident because it did not involve any of the passengers leaving with any injury.
”Everyone on board the aircraft when the incident happened actually alighted without any problem, and we have no cause to worry,” the aide said.
The aircraft had departed Abuja with Ibadan as its destination, but it landed about 50 metres short of the threshold and skidded into a ditch close to the runway.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), in a statement issued on Saturday, said it had commenced investigation into the cause of the incident.
“On the accident involving an aircraft operated by Flint Aero which occured at the Samuel Ladoke Akintola Airport Ibadan, please be informed that the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has commenced investigation into the cause.”
Our investigators are on site and further information will be provided as soon as possible,” NSIB said in the statement issued by its Director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Dr James Odaudu.