“I read papers while the scary situation occurred” – Obasanjo on Flight Incident at MMIA

Nigeria’s former president Olusegun Obasanjo, in an exclusive interview with Premium Times narrated the events of Wednesday, May 29, on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa to Lagos.

It was reported that the plane narrowly avoided an accident while trying to land at Murtala Muhammed International Airport.

Obasanjo was returning from a stakeholders dialogue on continental trade and implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) which came to a close on Tuesday, May 28.

“I remained calm and read papers while the scary situation occurred,” Obasanjo told Premium Times.

“While it all happened, I was reading my papers. One man, who was next to me, said, ‘Oga you no worry?’ I said, ‘Íf I worry, what will I do? If you are on a plane and you have a situation like this, why should you worry?’ I left everything in the hands of God,” he added.

Speaking further, the former president said:

I was on Ethiopian Airline. Rain just came down heavily. 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.

We spent just about 10 minutes in the air before we landed again.