BY Henry Umoru & DANIEL IDONOR
ABUJA – THE Federal Government, Wednesday, described as misleading the report that an aircraft conveying Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, campaign team crash landed at Bauchi airstrip when goats and rams strayed on to the runway.

Minister of Information and Communications, Mr Labaran Maku, who briefed State House correspondents after yesterday’s Federal Executive Council, FEC, said contrary to reports, there was no plane crash in Bauchi on Monday.

The ACN had accused the government of sabotage.

According to Mr Maku, “Contrary to reports in the papers today (yesterday), the report from the Aviation ministry indicated that the plane had landed safely before some animals strayed into the runways. The Ministry of Aviation is taking necessary precaution to put a stop to this in future”,

“We believe that incidents like this should call attention, to things we should do to ensure that they are avoided but to say that it was sabotaged again is something we believe is undue politicization of the incident that took place.

“We hope that as politicians that we will understand that key issues that concern us as a citizens, as family, as a nation which we shouldn’t draw unnecessary politics into it because then it brings division rather than the natural empathy, than the unity of purpose to ensure that if any incident that bears on risk, safety of citizens no matter what political affiliation, it is mutual concerns, it is to our mutual determination as a political class to ensure we do not bring divisions to matters that should unite us”, he said.

According to him, “this incident calls for us all to express our sympathy to those that were involved and give gratitude to God that no was no loss of life. I think this is important for us whether in AC,N PDP, we are all Nigerians struggling to offer our country leadership”.

The Minister noted that “we are not enemies, the various political parties are not enemies, we are nationals of Nigeria, we are citizens of Nigeria, we belong to the same political class, our concerns are the same. We want to run our country well so that we can develop and move forward so is important the language of politicians, parties and candidates must be such that we unite ourselves”.

Besides, “we can still disagree on the major issues which why we are vying for power telling our people the various agenda for which we want to stand for an election. This incidence is purely not that of sabotage according to the report by the ministry”.

He disclosed that “Council received a report from the Minister of Aviation concerning the incident that happened in Bauchi yesterday where a plane conveying the ACN members including the vice president candidate had an incident at the air strip”.

“Council expressed regrets over the incident and indeed wishes the ACN members and their candidates involved every goodwill and we are glad that the worst didn’t happen and that they are hale and hearty because that would have been very tragic for Nigeria and indeed for our aviation industry”.

He added that “also council found that the airstrip was being fenced, it has been on going process and in fact because of this type of incidence all the airstrip in the country are being fenced to ensure stray animals do not find their way in. The fencing of the airstrip is ongoing but indeed politicising it is not very decent”.

Also speaking, the Minister of Aviation, Ms Fidelia Njeze, said that after the incident, “the runway was closed for just 17 minutes to clean up the runway and after that the air planes were allowed to land”.

“So there was no act of sabotage but what we call force majure and is nobody fault. We have started fencing the airstrip and unfortunately this particular one animals stray onto it. Once we conclude the fencing which the contractor has promised will be completed in two weeks and thereafter such incidences will not happen again. The aeroplane had touched down and was taxing when the goats got into the runaway, no plane crashed landed”.

Meanwhile the eoples Democratic Party, PDP yesterday warned its major opposition party, the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN from blaming it for all its misfortunes, just as the party sympathised with the ACN over the Bauchi Plane crash.

According to the PDP, the strategy of blaming PDP for all their woes was a further confirmation that campaigns by the ACN lack issues or direction, just as it said, ‘’and that they have seen the handwriting on the walls, about their impending electoral defeat.”

In a statement signed yesterday by the Director, Media and Publicity, PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mallam Abba Dabo, the PDP however described as unfortunate the air mishap that involved some top level members of their Presidential Campaign team, adding, ‘’the PDP Presidential Campaign Council wishes to express its heartfelt sympathy with the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) over the unfortunate air mishap involving some top level members of their Presidential Campaign team.

‘’We join the ACN in thanking God that no life was lost in the incident and pray that no Nigerian experiences such a sense of panic and anxiety in our airspace again.”

The statement read in part, ‘’however, we find the statement credited to the spokesperson of the ACN alleging sabotage as absurd and indeed worrisome. This same Party has formed the habit of blaming the PDP for all their misfortunes.

These unfounded allegations range from such issues as denial of campaign permits, plane mishaps and even alleged assassination attempts. It is our sincere belief that even in the midst of a fierce political scramble for power, there should be a limit to political interpretation of sensitive matters.

‘’We find the blame game espoused by the ACN statement as unjustified and in extreme bad taste. We call on Nigerians to disregard these malicious and libellous insinuations. President Goodluck Jonathan has given his pledge to run a decent, lawful and decorous campaign, where issues are discussed and debated for the transformation of Nigeria.

‘’We urge the nation’s aviation officials to do everything necessary to prevent any such incident in future.”