The slanging match over compromised safety standards and the
mismanagement of the nation’s aviation sector has taken another turn with
the allegation made by the pioneer Commissioner and Chief Executive of
the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) Angus Ozoka that he was ordered
by a former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, to inform the
world that the Bellview Airlines Boeing 737-200 aircraft, which crashed at
Lisa, Ogun State on October 22, 2005, was bombed during the
investigation of the accident early in 2007.
The Bellview Airlines' crash led to the death of 117 people who were on
board the aircraft.
But in reaction, the former minister, who served under the Olusegun
Obasanjo administration and has since the Associated Airlines crash two
weeks ago been engaged in a duel with the current Minister of Aviation,
Stella Oduah, dismissed the allegation, calling Ozoka a “pathological liar”
with an axe to grind following his removal.
Ozoka, who spoke exclusively to THISDAY in an interview, said: “At a time
everybody knew they were singing a song that it was a bomb that blew
down the Bellview aircraft.
“So when somebody was appointed aviation minister (Fani-Kayode) in
2006. He said to me, call a press briefing and announce that it was a bomb
that blew down the airplane. We were still investigating the crash then and
he said that right in his office with his permanent secretary, his aides and
other staff.
“It was not a one-on-one directive, everybody was there. And I said I would
not do it. I said: ‘Hon. Minister I will not do it. It was not a bomb I will not do
it’. Then he said: ‘I hope you know I can remove you.’ I said: ‘You are the
Honourable Minister’.”
Elaborating, Ozoka added: “When I was in AIB investigating that fatal crash
on October 22, 2005 that killed 117 people, I was forced to hand over to
somebody who was the Director of Air Worthiness at NCAA when the crash
happened. He was advised not to allow the plane to fly and he defied the
advice.
“When the crash happened, he was removed. Only for somebody that
called himself a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to bring that
same person and appointed him to head the investigation into that crash
as Commissioner of AIB.”
Ozoka admitted he was angry at the level of hypocrisy in the country and
the criticism concerning the recent Associated Airlines' crash, noting that
many of those who are talking now, were aware of why he was removed and
replaced by somebody who indirectly had a hand in the crash to
investigate the accident.
“And none of these people that are talking now saw anything wrong with
that appointment; none of them said anything against that. If they said
anything, let them produce what they said. So I don’t take their criticism
seriously.
“To me, that is the height of hypocrisy. The people who are criticising now
knew what happened. They were in the system; none condemned that
action. I don’t take them seriously and that is why I said a lot of people go
to the television to make noise.
“Aviation is not where you go and make noise. A plane has crashed; we are
supposed to be in mourning," he said.
Ozoka also dismissed the notion that there might have been two reports on
the Bellview crash, noting that his work might have been abandoned
because it did not tally with what his successor wanted, but it was his
report that was concluded by the present Commissioner and Chief
Executive of AIB, Muktar Usman.
“I submitted a preliminary report, submitted an interim report, and
submitted an updated report. We had not got to the conclusion and safety
recommendations before I was removed. I spent over two years there.
“When the person that took over from me came in, it is possible that the
report that I submitted wouldn’t be in tandem with what he wanted, so it
was delayed until luckily, God in His own way made it that the person was
removed.
“Then Captain Usman was appointed and completed the report, following
the footsteps of what I had laid down," he said.
Ozoka said when he was removed, he wrote and informed all the security
agencies, disclosing: “I told them that the aviation ministry wanted to
manipulate the investigation."
According to him, “I copied the Inspector General of Police, State Security
Service (SSS), National Security Adviser, Senate Committee on Aviation,
Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Head of Service and Civil
Service Commission and said they wanted to manipulate the investigation.
“It was only the Secretary to the Government of the Federation at the time
that wrote a letter to the Ministry of Aviation asking why were they doing
this? Nobody else said anything.”
Ozoka explained that the establishment of AIB required National Assembly
legislation for the establishment Act, which took at least one year and a
public hearing before it was signed into law, stating that it was not Fani-
Kayode that established AIB.
“AIB was established by an Act of parliament and to pass a law takes one to
two years, so the former minister cannot say that he was the one who
established AIB, although it was signed into law by the then president
(Obasanjo) on November 14, while the minister was appointed on
November 7, 2006, so how did he establish AIB?” he asked.
But a personal aide to Fani-Kayode, Taiwo Lawal, yesterday denied the
allegation, saying Ozoka was a liar and had falsified the reports of the
accidents that had occurred at the time because he was a corrupt man.
“How the former minister could have asked him to include something in a
report that was submitted a year before we came into office beats my
imagination.
“His report was formally submitted to Chief Fani-Kayode’s predecessor in
office before he became Minister of Aviation so the suggestion that he or
anyone else asked Ozoka to doctor his report and say that there was a
bomb or anything else on board is ludicrous.
“How can you doctor or change something that had already been
submitted and released? The reason that Ozoka was sacked was because
Chief Fani-Kayode discovered that he was incompetent and all his reports
about air crashes had question marks.
“The former minister suspected him of doctoring accident reports and he
told him that to his face and promptly sacked him,” Lawal said.
Lawal maintained that Ozoka was lying and alleged that all the accident
investigation reports he submitted were unreliable.
“It was not only the Bellview crash report that he submitted that was
suspicious and unreliable but all the reports he submitted, of all the five
crashes that took place between 2005 and 2006 that resulted in the death
of 453 people.
“Consequently, he had to go because the former minister felt the federal
government could not protect the lives of air travellers as long as such a
questionable and shady character was in the aviation sector.
“The final report of the investigation on the Bellview crash which
commenced after Chief Fani-Kayode left office and which was conducted by
the new AIB, a new agency which the former minister set up after Ozoka's
exit, vindicated his position about Ozoka's earlier report because it
contradicted all his findings,” Lawal added.
Lawal noted that the final report of the Bellview crash was not submitted
until 2010, a good three years after Fani-Kayode left office.
“If you have any doubts about the fact that it contradicted Ozoka's earlier
report substantially, ask Engineer (Sam) Oduselu (Ozoka’s successor), who
was the person that was in charge of AIB when the investigation was
conducted and who submitted that report to both the present minister and
the one that came before her, for a copy.
“The report was meant to be passed on to the president but it never was.
Dr. (Harold) Demuren, who was in charge of NCAA (Nigeria Civil Aviation
Authority) at the time and the American NTSB investigation agency were
also given copies of Oduselu's report in 2010.
“Chief Fani-Kayode did the right and proper thing by sacking that man
Ozoka because he was a disaster and a danger to the Nigerian air-
traveller,” Lawal said.
The former minister’s aide said even former President Obasanjo felt the
same way about Ozoka which is why he approved his sack and gave Fani-
Kayode permission to set up a “new and more or less independent agency.”
The new AIB, he said, was autonomous of the ministry and an entirely new
parastatal set up specially to investigate aircrashes and to report directly to
the president in the event of a crash.
About a year after the Bellview crash, a kite was flown by some government
officials in the aviation sector who had alleged that a bomb was planted on
board the ill-fated aircraft.
Those in the know said the story was propagated in order to absolve the
airline of liability and manipulate the insurance claim on the aircraft.
But the bomb conspiracy theory was in stark contrast to the investigative
report made available by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and
AIB, which attributed the crash to a technical problem with the aircraft and
pilot error.
AIB’s investigation report had said: “The investigation considered several
factors that could explain the accident. They include the PIC (Pilot in
Command) training of the captain before taking command of the B737
aircraft, which was inadequate. The cumulative flight hours of the pilot in
the days before the accident which was indicative of excessive workload
that could lead to fatigue.”
Furthermore, the AIB investigative report revealed that the airplane had
technical defects and should not have been dispatched for either the
accident flight or earlier flights.

www.thisdaylive.com/articles/ozoka-fani-kayode-forced-me-to-say-bellview-plane-was-bombed/161855/

Too bad we live in a place like Nigeria!

What a HELL-HOLE!!!!

Thank you 'MR. PARROT'!

2 years from now. . .we shall learn of ODUAH'S cover-up too!

and that fanny 'parrot' kayode has the audacity to attack oduah

The souls of all the victims will judge those that is responsible for all the plane crashes we've had in Nigeria.

..B

And God is watching . . .

This is the season for Bullet Proof BMW purchase and not the bombing of Bellview ..Please do not distract us with this archaic tale we need watch the BMW series for now

But fanny parot later claim plane crashes were the work of occultic power from his father kingdom

Goodluck Jonathan, inspector general of police and EFCC will be the biggest fools on earth if they rogue Femi Fani Kayode is not arrested immediately and made to face charges for negligence, fraud, contempt, sabotage of public office , treasonable felony, dissention and incitement

Abeg dont distract us. Na BMW allegation na him we wan watch.

These people will go to any length to cover up, lie and manipulate anything to win. Now that we've heard of the high level corruption of one of theirs they are bringing up a fairy tale to distract us. Nice try.

We are only interested in the BMW series for now... no distraction please

Nice try Mr.Ozoka.

We dont believe you, you need more people.

Lets talk about the BMW we'll get to your ancient tales later.

I always knew that this Fani Kayode of a guy had a cockroach in his cupboard.

Faani Kayode is going down...

The BMWs issues is really causing alot.

Angus Ozoka’s claims
that he was orderedby a former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, to inform the world that the Bellview Airlines Boeing 737-200 aircraft, which crashed at Lisa, Ogun State on October 22, 2005, was bombed during the investigation of the accident early in 2007. The Bellview Airlines' crash led to the death of 117 people who were on board the aircraft.

Femi Fani-Kayode’s responds through his spokesperson (Taiwo Lawal)
denied the allegation, saying Ozoka was a liar and had falsified the reports of the accidents that had occurred at the time because he was a corrupt man. How the former minister could have asked him to include something in a report that was submitted a year before we came into office beats my
imagination. “His report was formally submitted to Chief Fani-Kayode’s predecessor in
office before he became Minister of Aviation so the suggestion that he or anyone else asked Ozoka to doctor his report and say that there was a bomb or anything else on board is ludicrous.

gidson12: and that fanny 'parrot' kayode has the audacity to attack oduah

Danhumprey: I always knew that this Fani Kayode of a guy had a cockroach in his cupboard.

i want to believe u both read only the topic not the news content. Pls learn to read d whole news content b4 jumping into conclusion

Na wa oh!

lygn19: Faani Kayode is going down...

same thing you said during the BianCar case and still nothing has been done to tarnish the handsome man.

Pls give him an ULTIMATUM.

BMW news or it didnt happen

dridowu: i want to believe u both read only the topic not the news content. Pls learn to read d whole news content b4 jumping into conclusion

Ain't jumping into conclusion,biko. I read the post over and over again. What I have come to realize is that Fani Kayode tend to criticise others too easily,forgetting that he is also a culprit.

Now he will learn to keep quiet if Ozoka's claims are true but in other news BMW saga must not be swept under the carpet

Segeggs: same thing you said during the BianCar case and still nothing has been done to tarnish the handsome man.

Pls give him an ULTIMATUM.

If u had sense u wud know dat Faani kayode is now gone, a fool at 60 is a fool for eternity,,, imagine an old man quarelling with women all over d internet, b4 it wz Biancar ojukwu, now Stella Oduah, very soon it will be Tiwa Savage...chei MUMU....

lygn19:
If u had sense u wud know dat Faani kayode is now gone, a fool at 60 is a fool for eternity,,, imagine an old man quarelling with women all over d internet, b4 it wz Biancar ojukwu, now Stella Oduah, very soon it will be Tiwa Savage...chei MUMU....

...after sleeping with them all

Segeggs: ...after sleeping with them all

LoL

Nna.. Oduah is the Current Aviation Minister. The Gorilla with Mary-Kay and some weird Lens!

lygn19:
Yes nw... It doesn't surprise me to hear dz from a yoruba man... It seems ur Father is also in dz business of sleeping around,,,hmmmmmm no wonder yoruba motherless babies homes for gals have turned brothels.

source or it never happened

can you compare dat with the baby making factory in the SE?

Brimmie: Nna.. Oduah is the Current Aviation Minister. The Gorilla with Mary-Kay and some weird Lens!

Yeah dats her d one in d pic, I heard she changed her name to kemi olunloyo

Hmmmmmm... It seems Faani Kayode hasn't seen dem boobies, pls smbodi help me send it to him,,,lol'''she'z cold

nad nd to open hi pooo hol to say out rbish