Agagu: Government, family bicker over crashed plane

FOLARIN ADEMOSU

The Ondo State Government in western Nigeria today debunked the claim by Femi Agagu, late former Governor Olusegun Agagu’s brother, that it hired the Associated Airline-owned chartered airplane, which bore the remains of the deceased, but crashed over Lagos last Thursday.

Femi, in an earlier statement, stated that, “The contracts for the purchase of the casket, the hiring of the hearse, arrangement for the flying of the corpse from Lagos to Akure, the stage for the lying-in-state as well as the transportation to Iju Odo were between Ondo State Government and MIC as part of the plans to give the former governor a state burial.”

While expressing the family’s gratitude to the state government for its “immense support” since Agagu’s demise, Femi, said the family’s only involvement in the government-planned ceremony was when they were called to choose the casket the deceased should be buried in.

In a press release issued by the Ondo State Commissioner for Information, Kayode Akinmade, the government explained that, “The committee deferred to the family’s insistence that the body be moved to Akure by air. The family thereafter introduced Mr. Tunji Okusanya (now deceased) of MIC Funeral as the official undertaker, who would
make necessary arrangements regarding the movement of the body and the
funeral.”

The statement continued: “Thereafter the MIC boss forwarded the names of various airlines through an e-mail message to the Committee, namely, Aero Contractor; OAS Helicopters; Chachangi; Arik; Dana; and IRS as the Airline operators that have been contacted.

“It was indicated in his message that IRS was not available for conveying human remains; Dana aircraft had gone for maintenance; and Arik does not fly the Akure route”.

“He, therefore, suggested Chachangi as the best offer.”

The government averred that it was making the clarification against its wish, and at a time the state was mourning the victims of the crash.

In his reaction, the Publicity Secretary, Ondo State Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ayo Fadaka, described as “an indication of ineptitude” government’s explanation that the deceased MIC boss, Tunji Okusanya, suggested to it the choice of aircraft to be used for conveying the corpse.

“The claim by the Commissioner that late Mr Tunji Okusanya now assumed a new responsibility to recommend to it which airline that should be patronized is an indication of its gross ineptitude given the acclaimed fact that he was an acclaimed undertaker, which it even agreed was the reason for his introduction in the first instance and not an aviation expert or a travel agent,” Fadaka, said.

The PDP spokesman stressed that “it is absolutely pedestrian for the (Governor Olusegun) Mimiko government to search for a scapegoat in this issue which directly lies in its purview, in its carelessness, a costly mistake with dire consequences have befallen our State and it must bury its head in absolute shame as any attempt to drag the Agagu family into this matter will only confirm a sinister plot to ridicule the memory of our departed leader.”