How Gov Suntai’s airplane crashed

WHAT began as a rumour, sad and shocking as it was, that Governor Danbaba Suntai of Taraba State had died yesterday in a plane crash turned out to be untrue.
The governor is alive but was involved in a plane crash a few metres to Yola International Airport in Adamawa State.

The four-passenger chopper, which was piloted by the governor himself was said to
have three top government officials on board.

The Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Hassan Mijinyawa said Suntai and the three persons on board are all in stable condition and that they have been rushed to an undisclosed hospital. It was later learnt yesterday that the governor has been flown to Abuja.
Also, confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer to the Adamawa State Command, Mohammed Ibrahim, said there was a crash involving the governor but that there was no death.
Also, spokesman for the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), Tunji Oketunbi, told The Guardian that the agency’s investigators had been deployed to the site of the crash involving a Cessna 208 marked 5N-BJM and belonging to Taraba State Government.

The aircraft, according to Oketunbi, was flying from Jalingo to Yola with six on board when it crashed eight miles to the airport.
He said: “Occupants have been evacuated to hospitals. AIB officials will on getting to the site as soon as possible commence investigations.” He added that more information would be relayed as available.
Also, in a statement yesterday, spokesman for the Minister of Aviation, Joe Obi, told journalists that an aircraft, Cessna 208 with six on board, including crew, operated by the Taraba State Government departed Jalingo, for Yola “this evening (yesterday) and reported contact with the Yola Control Tower (1720Z) and field in sight at 38 miles estimating landing at 1730Z.”

He said the pilot lost contact with Yola Control Tower and subsequent effort to raise the aircraft failed. “Search & Rescue was immediately activated and site of incident located with all victims alive with various degrees of injuries. The victims have been evacuated to the hospital for treatment pending further investigation of the incident.”
Suntai’s love for aircraft and flying was common knowledge in the state.

When he became governor, the airport in Jalingo, the state capital was not good and he set about rehabilitating it at a cost estimated at about N9billion.
Although the airport was still not good enough, the governor in that first term acquired another small aircraft for the state and last year added a second.
Yet, none of them could land at Jalingo Airport.

A few months ago, the Suntai administration acquired a helicopter for which he built a heliport in Government House.
He had taken flying lessons at the Aviation College in Jos as well as in America and loved to fly himself.
Senate President David Mark is also known to fly himself.
On August 2010, a group of aviation journalists embarked on a yearly aviation training course at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) Zaria, Kaduna State.

Unknown to the journalists, Suntai was one of the high profile pilot students undergoing training to get his Private Pilot Licence (PPL) which qualified him to fly a private jet.
A week before, Suntai undertook his solo flight as a pilot at the premier flying institution.

The governor had, in the past weeks, been taking practical training in the college, and by the time he had a successful solo run, Suntai was bathed with water as a symbol of his integration into the flying club.
Shortly after the flight, the governor spoke with reporters.

You have just had your first solo flight as a pilot, how do you feel about the experience? Secondly, how are you partnering NCAT to boost aviation development in Nigeria? Do you also have plans to build an airport in the state, and how do you intend to source the funds?

Well, let me thank you for taking the time to come and hold this interview on my first solo flight. How I feel about the solo flight, I feel excited and I feel grateful to God for the opportunity to fly my first solo.
Personally, right from the onset in my life, I chose aviation as a career and I pursuing it I was able to obtain admission to Mbrevidaila Aeronautical University in Florida, but coming from a very poor background, I could not sponsor myself in the school so I started seeking scholarship, but I couldn’t obtain a scholarship.
So that was how I ended up in the pharmacy profession.  However, aviation has continued to bite me in my blood. And when I learnt that I could even fly at my age, I decided to come over here to see the rector and inform him about my ambition and he enrolled me. And after some few training, today, I was able to undergo this solo flight.

So, in my blood I have it as a passion, so this passion translates to my belief in encouraging students who want to be pilots to be sponsored to train. Currently, I have about two students that we sponsored to this college.
And I also recall that I sent somebody to South Africa to train as a pilot. So it is a passion and personally I have the interest to encourage students to come into the aviation college. I don’t know about other governors but the thing is all about passion.

 

Author of this article: From Wole Shadare (Lagos) and Charles Akpeji (Jalingo)