The ill-fated Dana Plane crash of 2012 was a deep blow to the nation as several lives were lost in the flight from Abuja to Lagos. Some of those killed were top officials of government on national assignment.
The final report of the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), as authenticated by the federal government sufficiently analyzed the dual failure of the engine, and that, the aircraft could not have been flown from Calabar to Abuja to convey passengers from Abuja to Lagos almost immediately for faulty reasons. The AIB report was painstakingly carried out by experts and had not been faulted by any other relevant authorities in Nigeria or elsewhere.
Again, for emphasis, the facts were made public, and Gody Jeddy Agba, a seating Minister of State for Power, was not mentioned in the AIB report as in any way connected with the ill-fated crash whose ugly memories still lives with the families of those who lost their lives and by extension the Nigerian state, especially the aviation industry.
But eight years down the line, an obscure magazine, not worthy to be named, and without facts, had alleged that Gody Jeddy Agba was responsible for the crash – and wait for this – to cover up tracks of alleged corrupt practices while serving as Group General Manager Crude Marketing at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
There should be a limit to sponsored and malicious publications, evidently done to tarnish the image and indeed pull down all those who have in some ways distinguished themselves in the public service of the country. The publisher of the obscure publication who is currently being prosecuted by the police for alleging that the police had received bribes from Agba to suppress investigation into the matter as at the time of the air crash, had, to all intents and purposes, violated the ethics of journalism through outright publication of falsehood.
Gody Jeddy Agba is Minister of State for Power. He was appointed into office by President Muhammadu Buhari in August 2019, and had since assumption of office, shown the willingness and competence towards the resuscitation of the power sector. Some of the contributions of the minister to national development are clearly seen in his commitment in the federal government negotiating team in the reduction of electricity tariffs, a major concern of the state and the citizenry.
He was among a few Nigerians who worked patriotically to implement the oil and gas reforms at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and with a record of good performance and accountability in the sale of crude oil, Nigeria’s major revenue earner. But the minister was not in any way part of the alleged travelling arrangements of some NNPC staff, through Dana airlines on that fateful day, as concocted by the magazine.
Ofem Uket, Abuja
