Ever since the Dana Plane crash on Sunday June 3 in Lagos, there have been rumours especially in social media circles that the crash was as a result of the closure of the airspace to facilitate the movement of First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan who was in Lagos at the time. However, the Ministry of Aviation cleared the air today and debunked the story, calling it a rumour.

The Special Assistant to the Minister of Aviation on Media, Joe Obi, made the clarification in a press statement. According to the statement, “nothing could be farther from the truth.  For the records, we wish to state that the First Lady arrived in Lagos at about 4.45p.m. on Saturday, 2nd June, 2012 and only departed for Abuja on Monday, the 4th of June, 2012 at 1.30p.m., whereas the ill-fated Dana flight 0992 departed Abuja on Sunday, 3rd of June, 2012 at 2.54p.m. and its last contact with the Lagos Control Tower was at 3.42p.m. as had already been announced.”

The statement concluded by saying, “We wish to stress that the First Lady did not fly on Sunday, the 3rd of June, 2012 as is widely being speculated”.