Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has detailed his experience on an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 777-300 which was reported on Wednesday to have escaped mishap.
The aircraft which had 394 passengers and crew members had taken off from Bole International Airport, Addis Ababa at 9:10 am, Ethiopian time, (7 am Nigerian time) on Wednesday.
Due to rain and heavy wind, the plane had difficulty in landing when it got to Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
Obasanjo was returning from a stakeholders’ meeting on Continental Trade and Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AFCFTA) which ended Tuesday.
Obasanjo’s media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, had erroneously said that the former President was not aboard the plane.
However, the ex-military head of state told an online platform that the situation was not as serious as it was made to appear.
“I was on the Ethiopian Airline. Rain just came down heavily,” he began.
“The pilot thought he could land. And he landed. He touched down. But I think he took a swift decision that he had to take off again.
“So he took off. If he did not, I think he probably would have overrun the runway.
“He then apologised and said he would try to land again. He tried again, and we landed safely. And we all clapped.”
On his reaction, while the pilot initiated the safety precautionary steps, Obasanjo said: “One man, who was next to me, said, ‘Oga you no worry?’ I said, ‘Íf I worry, what should I do? If you are on a plane and you have a situation like this, why should you worry?’ So, I left everything in the hands of God.”
