Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd) and Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, yesterday, relived events preceding the take off of the ill-fated Navy helicopter that crashed last Saturday in Bayelsa State, killing former Kaduna State Governor, Mr Patrick Yakowa and former National Security Adviser, General Andrew Azazi and four others. They said they escaped death by the whiskers as they were scheduled to board the ill-fated helicopter.

FOLLOWING last Saturday’s helicopter crash in Bayelsa State which claimed the lives of former Kaduna State Governor, Patrick Yakowa and erstwhile National Security Adviser, General Andrew Azazi and the setting up of an investigative team to probe the incident, the Senate, yesterday, urged the executive to publish reports of previous investigations into air crashes before any new probe could attract the confidence of Nigerians.

The Nigerian Navy, yesterday, insisted that its helicopter that crashed last Saturday in Okoloba community in Bayelsa State, killing Kaduna State Governor, Patrick Yakowa and erstwhile National Security Adviser, General Andrew Azazi (Rtd) was certified to fly by a ‘Certified Technical Support Engineer’. The Navy made the clarification on a day the investigation team set up by the Federal Government led by the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba arrived Bayelsa State capital, Yenagoa to commence investigation.

Former Governor of Kaduna State, Mr. Patrick Yakowa and erstwhile National Security Adviser, Gen Andrew Azazi (rtd.), were solemn but smiling last Saturday after listening to a message on the brevity of life and the vanity of riches preached minutes before they boarded a Navy helicopter that crashed within 10 minutes of take off.

Six persons were killed yesterday when a naval helicopter in which they were travelling crashed and burst into flames in the forest of Okoroba, Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, shortly after take-off.

SIX days after a 10-man kidnap gang seized Professor Mabel Kamene Titi Okonjo, mother of the Minister of Finance, Dr. (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, at Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State, the 82-year-old retired professor of Sociology at the University of Nigeria, UNN, Nsukka, was released, yesterday morning, by her kidnappers in Benin City, Edo State, after collecting between N10 and N15 million ransom.

As security operatives intensified search for Professor Kamene Okonjo, the mother of Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who was abducted last Sunday from her home, the Nigerian army said yesterday that 63 people have so far been arrested over the kidnap.

FOUR days after the kidnap of Prof Mabel Kamene Titi Okonjo, 82 –year-old mother of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at Ogwashi-Uku in Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State, a contact has been established with her kidnappers who have now reduced the ransom being demanded as a pre-condition for her release from $1 billion to N200 million.

As the Federal Government intensified efforts to secure the release of Professor Mabel Kamene Okonjo, mother of Finance Minister from the kidnappers’ den, the Delta State Police command, yesterday, confirmed the arrest and detention of two police men who were supposed to be on duty at the palace when the kidnappers struck.

THE gunmen, who abducted Professor Mabel Kamene Titi Okonjo, the 82-year-old mother of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, reportedly mounted surveillance on the palace for about one week before they kidnapped her, Sunday.