2023: NCAA denies grounding Obidient aircraft in Lagos

Media allegations that the Labour Party’s campaign plane was grounded have been refuted by the federal government.

LP presidential candidate Peter Obi’s supporters and a few party leaders were denied access to the aircraft carrying them to their rally in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State.

The jet was stopped at the Lagos airport by the “powers that be,” according to a statement released on Wednesday by Diran Onifade, Head of Media for the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Organization.

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However, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) responded to the development by refuting the claims that the LP’s campaign jet was grounded in an effort to sabotage the party’s campaign.

The authority revealed in a statement on Wednesday that the aircraft belonged to a scheduled operator, also referred to as a commercial flight operator.

According to the NCAA, the plane’s flight crew returned to the base on their own to check on a mechanical problem that had arisen soon after takeoff.

It said the safety precautionary flight measures were taken by the flight operator, and not by the NCAA, saying that the authority was not involved in the decision.

It said, “The so-called grounded plane belongs to a scheduled operator i.e. normal commercial flight. The flight crew of the said aircraft returned to the base on their own to check on an issue that developed soon after it took off.

“This is the normal and right thing to do. What they did is what we termed safety precautionary flight measures. NCAA was not involved in this decision.”

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