by Isi Esene

There are conflicting reports regarding the grounding of Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s Bombardier aircraft at the Akure Airport on Friday.

Amaechi was said to have been delayed for about two hours while trying to make his return trip back to Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital after attending the burial of the Ekiti State deputy governor, Olufunmilayo Olayinka.

Olayinka died a few weeks back after a prolonged battle with cancer.

Reports say Amaechi’s aircraft was denied permission to take off because of he failure of his flight crew to make available the passenger manifest to the National Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) as the new aviation regulation requires.

But a source close to the Rivers governor gave an account of the event implying that their was a political motive to the take off denial saying it is unfortunate that the perceived friction between Amaechi and Presiddent Goodluck Jonathan has been allowed to “degenerate to this level.”

According to the source, “The governor and his aides were returning from the burial of the Ekiti State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Funmi Olayinka in Ado-Ekiti.

“When we got to the airport at about 6 pm, we discovered that our plane was grounded. They said that NAMA said we did not get clearance before landing.

“The crew explained to the governor that due process was complied with. We later got in touch with the NAMA Chief Executive who was incoherent and could not be of help.

“He said the agency had nothing to do with the grounding of the aircraft and that we should get in touch with other aviation agencies.

“While the drama was going on, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, who was at the airport, decided to intervene. Tambuwal said his aircraft would not take-off until the governor’s plane was cleared.

“After two hours, we were eventually cleared for take-off from the airport. We left at about 8pm.

“It is sad that political matters are degenerating to this level.”

David Iyofor, Amaechi’s chief press secretary was of the opinion that NAMA’s excuse for not granting their aircraft permission for take off is clearly fabricated.

He reportedly said, “We were just there standing at the airport for almost two hours without any concrete reason for the delay. Our pilot fulfilled all the requirements for landing and take-off. They obviously made up this story that we did not meet some requirements.”

Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, Supo Atobatele gave the agency’s account of the story saying Amaechi’s pilot failed to follow operational procedure.

Atobatele said, “Akure Airport closes at sunset because it is a daylight airport. When Tambuwal’s aircraft arrived, he called NAMA headquarters and informed them he was in Akure for a burial and that his flight would leave by sunset.

“In accordance with regulation, his pilot filed his flight plan and the manifest of the flight. But Amaechi’s flight neither filed a flight plan nor declared a manifest. They arrived at about 3.30pm, after attending another burial in Owerri.

“It took Amaechi’s pilot 20 minutes to file the plan and manifest.

“So he failed to follow operational procedure on safety and security. It is a standard procedure across the world. The argument about being delayed for two hours is not true because the aircraft must have left the airport before 7pm because Akure does not have airfield lighting.”

Joe Obi, the Special Adviser to the Minister of Aviation on Media corroborated Atobatele’s account saying Amaechi’s crew, for reasons best known to them, simply refused to release the flight manifest as required.

He said: “The Rivers State aircraft was not grounded at the airport in Akure as being insinuated. What happened was not supposed to be an issue at all.

“As part of new aviation regulations, any aircraft taking off is supposed to make its manifest available to the aviation authorities for the purpose of record keeping.

“We have had incidents in the past where it was difficult to know the people on board a particular aircraft. The rule now is that you must present the manifest before you take off, whether it is a private or commercial aircraft.

“So, in Akure, they demanded for the manifest of the aircraft carrying Governor Rotimi Amaechi, and in the typical Nigerian system or attitude, they started asking why they must make the manifest available.

“At the time this thing happened, they had not even asked for start up. That is, they had not got in touch with the Control Tower for take- off.

“When the manifest was produced, the aircraft was cleared accordingly. We could not have delayed or grounded the aircraft, having noticed that there is no heavy lighting at Akure Airport for night traffic.

“We did not have issues. It was just normal operational procedure.”

Much ado about flight manifest, you’ll say.