The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has debunked any political undertone to grounding of a campaign aircraft belonging to the Presidential standard bearer of the Labour Party, Peter Obi on Wednesday.
The aircraft with registration number 5Y-HPY is a Bombardier DHC-8-400 aircraft owned by DAC Aviation International, an aircraft leasing company.
The Head of Media of Obi-Datti Campaign Organisation, Diran Onifade, had in a statement announced to the general public that the plane was blocked from flying over ‘yet to be explained’ reasons.
“It can be recalled that there was a massive outcry over the incident which occurred a few days ago as it hindered several chieftains of the Party from attending a campaign rally for Obi in Ibadan,” Onifade said
However, in their response, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority denied the allegations and explained that the plane belonged to a scheduled operator.
“According to emerging reports, the plane was grounded for allegedly violating safety procedures by refusing to comply with instruction from the Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs) not to depart Benin airport. It was learnt that the regulatory authority had commenced an investigation into the matter while the aircraft remained grounded in Lagos.
“This has nothing to do with politics and NCAA has zero tolerance for regulatory infractions. Aviation is a highly regulated industry and we cannot afford to take any chance because lives are involved,” says aviation source..