Safely now back in Abeokuta Obasanjo said he remained calm during Ethiopian Airlines scare

FORMER president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed that he did not panic while onboard the Ethiopian Airlines flight that nearly crashed in Lagos yesterday pointing out that he remained calm and continued reading his newspapers throughout the scare.

Yesterday afternoon, the airplane, a Boeing 777-300, narrowly avoided an accident while trying to land with nearly 400 people on board. Chief Obasanjo was one of 394 passengers on board the flight from Addis Ababa, where he was returning from after attending a stakeholders dialogue on continental trade and implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.

Now safely back at his home in Abeokuta, Chief Obasanjo said he remained calm and read papers while the scary situation occurred. Due to strong winds and a heavy downpour, the aircraft nearly overshot the runway before it returned to the air and later landed safely after spending about 10 minutes airborne.

Chief Obasanjo said: “While it all happened, I was reading my papers. One man, who was next to me, said Oga you no worry? but I said if I worry, what will I do?

"If you are on a plane and you have a situation like this, why should you worry?’ I left everything in the hands of God.”

According to Chief Obasanjo, the pilot first landed the plane at about 12.20 pm before the incident but finally landed safely on return at 12.30 pm. Mr Sam Adurogboye, a Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority spokesman, confirmed the incident, saying however, that the aircraft did not overshoot the runway.

Firihiewot Mekonnen, the general manager of Ethiopian Airlines Nigerian operations, conformed that the incident was caused by bad weather encountered during landing. She said the aircraft had to make a go-around-the-airport for better and smooth landing, in line with aviation procedure.

Ms Mekonnen added: “On a second attempt, it made a safe and normal landing. According to safety standards, pilots are encouraged to make a similar go-around in such cases.

This is the second major incident involving Ethiopian Airlines recently as it suffered a crash of its flight ET302 in March which killed all 157 persons on board, including two Nigerians including Professor Pius Adesanmi. Back then, the aircraft bound for Nairobi from Addis Ababa, crashed six minutes after takeoff around Bishoftu, 40 miles southeast of the Ethiopian capital.