By James Udo-Jones
The ill-fated Dana Plane crash of 2012, which occurred due to technical defects, was a deep blow to the Nation as several lives were lost, including top officials of government on national assignment.
The final report of the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), as authenticated by the Federal Government, sufficiently analysed the dual failure of the engine.
The report says the aircraft could not have been flown from Calabar to Abuja to convey passengers from Abuja to Lagos almost immediately, for faulty reasons.
Again, the facts were made public, and Goddy Jeddy Agba, Minister of State for Power, was not mentioned in the AIB report either as one who masterminded or orchestrated the ill-fated air crash which ugly memories still lives with the families of those who lost their lives and by extension the Nigerian state, especially the aviation industry.
Eight years down the line, an obscure magazine named “Power Steering” has alleged that Gody Jeddy Agba was responsible for the Dana Plane crash to cover up tracks of alleged corrupt practices while serving as Group General Manager Crude Marketing at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Sadly, the publication, which was made in July this year, has maligned the character of the minister with a view to delivering on the perceived attacks which were sponsored by political opponents who will stop at nothing to pull down all those who have in some ways distinguished themselves in public service.
The publisher of the magazine, Mr Tom Oga Uhia, 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, has in all ethical conduct violated the provisions of the ethics of journalism through misrepresentation of facts.
The bitter truth the magazine ignored is the AIB report, which was painstakingly carried out by experts. The report was not faulted by relevant authorities in Nigeria, neither was it contested by people like Tom, the publisher of the magazine.
Agba was appointed into office by President Muhammadu Buhari in August 2019. He became a member of the Federal cabinet and since assumption of office, he has shown the willingness and competence towards the resuscitation of the power sector.
He was among a few Nigerians who worked patriotically to implement the oil and gas reforms at the NNPC, with an indelible mark of high-level performance and accountability in the sale of crude oil that has been the major source of revenue earning in the country.
His track and performance records are irascible.
To put the records straight, the minister was not in any way part of the alleged travelling arrangements of the NNPC staff, through Dana Airlines as concocted by the magazine, which could not extrapolate its ill-intended blackmail and sponsored attack against the genuine actor in the Nigerian political scene.
It is, therefore, important to note that Tom is being held by the police on the order of the court until he is granted bail.
The minister has since disassociated himself from the said detention of the publisher, as the police are said to have secured a warrant of arrest to bring him to justice.
However, some of the contributions of the minister to national development are seen in his commitment to the Federal Government negotiating team in the reduction of electricity tariffs, a major concern of the state and its citizen, which clearly defines deep political governance involvement to actualise a productive end.
- Udo-Jones, journalist and aviation analyst, writes from Abuja
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