The Ondo State Government and the family of late Governor
Olusegun Agagu are now locked in a war of words over the hiring of the
ill-fated Associated Airlines plane which crashed in Lagos while carrying the
remains of the late governor to Akure for burial.
The
Agagu family had two days ago issued a statement suggesting that the Ondo
government hired the plane and that the speculation that the family did was
“false, wicked and deliberate distortion of obvious facts.”
“We
appreciate the immense support of the state government since the demise of Dr.
Olusegun Agagu. But we would like to state here that we were only invited to
point to the type of casket we wanted,” Femi Agagu, younger brother to Governor
Agagu, said in a statement. “Every other arrangements including the flight,
lying-in-state and even transportation to Iju Odo were made by the state
government and MIC. For anybody to say we chose Associated Airline is total
falsehood and we believe such report couldn’t have come from the state
government quarters.”
But
in a statement Tuesday, the Ondo government punctured the claim by the Agagu
family, saying it had no hand in the hiring of the crashed plane.
In
a statement by the Commissioner for Information, Kayode Akinmade in Akure, the
government said a committee it set up met regularly with the Agagu family to
draw up a burial programme agreeable to the family.
At
one of the meetings, the statement said, the issue of 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,” Mr. Akinmade said. “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 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
Ondo government said 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.”
Saying
it made the clarifications against its wish, the Ondo government added that
“this is definitely not the time for this as we are still mourning.”
Certainly not.....
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