Fear and tension yesterday gripped a 24-man delegation of Jigawa State ?to Akwa Ibom ?as heavy rainfall and poor visibility made landing impossible for a ?chartered flight conveying the delegation to the installation of the Emir of Kazaure, Alhaji Najib Husseini Adamu, as the Chancellor of Akwa Ibom State University, Uyo.
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The delegation, being led by Governor Sule Lamido had to hover in the air for quite sometimes before turning back to land in Kano in order ?not to run out of aviation fuel. The delegation also spent three hours, 46 minutes in the air from Kano to Akwa Ibom and back to Kano. That is one hour and forty minutes flight time each to and from Akwa Ibom and the remainder for the hovering and maneuvering in the change of flight direction.
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It was gathered ? that trouble started earlier when the flight ran into some turbulence after ?it took ?off from Kano. Although the pilot had announced during the take-off briefing that the flight would encounter turbulence at some point before Abuja, ?the actual turbulence still caught some members of the delegation off guard as some were so uncomfortable that they had to change seat as if changing seat would change anything if there was a descent into nothingness.?
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When contacted, Lamido’s Director of Press, Alhaji Umar Kyari, played down the incident, ?saying that the delegation had since returned safely to Dutse. Some members of the delegation who spoke to this paper described the flight in the 30-seater Dornier aircraft as a stable one except for the aborted landing.
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Aside from Governor Lamido, other members of the delegation included the Speaker of the Jigawa State House of Assembly, Adamu Ahmed, Hon. ?Ibrahim ?Ubandoma, a traditional title holder in Kazaure emirate and member of the state House of Assembly, the Secretary to the Jigawa State Government, Alhaji Lawan Abdu, the Head of Service, Mustapha Aminu and the Chief of Staff, Aminu Ibrahim, three commissioners viz Finance, Health and Special Duties, a Special Adviser to the governor and the governor’s security details.
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