The Osun State Governor, Chief Ademola Adeleke, has escaped a horrific fate, according to a report by Leadership.
By a stroke of luck, what could have been a national tragedy was
averted on Tuesday, September 5, 2023 when the private jet owned by
billionaire businessman, Chief Adedeji Adeleke, who is the Governor's
brother, caught fire at take-off point at the Murtala Mohammed
International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos, multiple sources familiar with
the incident told LEADERSHIP on Saturday.
Chief Adeleke is the father of Afrobeat musician, David Adeleke,
popularly known as Davido. He is also the brother of the Osun State
governor, Ademola Adeleke.
Chief Adeleke owns the Bombadier Global Express 6000 involved in the
incident. The jet is used as a family plane by the Adelekes.
The incident happened at the domestic wing of the Airport at about
9am on the fateful day when the jet was about to take off from Lagos to
Abuja.
However, the incident wasn’t formally communicated to the concerned
Aviation regulatory authorities, a development that is against standard
protocol.
Reports indicated that the jet, with Osun State governor, Ademola
Adeleke, on board and his top aides at the time of the incident, had
taxied to the end of the runway, shortly before departure, when a loud
explosion was heard from the engine of the jet, causing it to abort
take-off immediately.
“No deaths or injuries were reported, and other passengers in the
plane as of the time of the incident could not be ascertained,” a source privy to the development told our correspondent.
LEADERSHIP gathered that the jet had been parked at the Executive Jet
hanger of the Airport before it was deployed on September 5.
Multiple sources confided in LEADERSHIP that even though there were
no injuries or deaths recorded from the incident, however, all parties
including the Airport authorities, the Osun State government and the
owners of the private hanger have been desperate to ensure that the news
of the incident doesn’t get to the public domain.
Attempts by LEADERSHIP to speak with Governor Adeleke or any of his
aides were unsuccessful as at press time on Saturday. Even though one of
the passengers on the plane, who did not want to be named, confided in
our correspondent that foul play was being suspected from the hangar
operators as both engines of the aircraft were damaged.
However, the chief executive officer (CEO), Executive Jets, owners of
the hangar where the private jet was parked, Sam Iwuajoku, disclosed
that the Chief Adeleke’s private jet had Foreign Object Damage (FOD)
that made the aircraft experienced high temperature, which resulted into
the explosion.
According to him, the FOD was caused by a bird nest in one of the engines of the jet.
“At take-off, the engine had high temperature and it was caused
by bird nest in one of the engines of the aircraft. It happened when an
aircraft is parked and not properly covered so, birds will build their
nest and anything they bring into the aircraft can spark high
temperature.
“It happened to one of my aircraft in 2021, we had to remove the
engine and the engine was in Germany for 14 months. So, it’s a common
thing in Africa because we have birds around,” he stated.
But, credible sources told LEADERSHIP that the internationally
renowned musician, Davido, had used the plane the previous day,
September 4, putting a lie to Iwuajoku of Executive Jets’ account of the
incident.
Meanwhile, efforts to get confirmation from the Nigerian Civil
Aviation Authority (NCAA) proved abortive as calls and text messages
placed to its director-general, Capt. Musa Nuhu, were not replied as at
the time of filing this report on Saturday.
However, a reliable source confided in our correspondent that the
incident wasn’t reported to the NCAA as the Air Worthiness Department of
the Authority wasn’t aware of the incident.
The source, who craved anonymity because he wasn’t authorised to speak on the matter, said: “NCAA isn’t aware of this incident because the Air Worthiness Department is not aware.”