By Ameh Sunday Enyo-ojo
Presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has expressed deep sadness over the crash of a Nigerian Air Force ATR-42 aircraft near Igbokoda in Ondo State.
According to Sowore, the aircraft was carrying 25 passengers and seven crew members, whom he said were “now presumably killed.”
In a statement, Sowore sympathised with the families and loved ones of everyone aboard the aircraft, as well as officers and personnel of the Nigerian Air Force affected by the tragedy.
However, beyond the crash itself, Sowore raised concerns about Nigeria’s emergency preparedness and its ability to respond rapidly and effectively to major disasters.
He said videos and images emerging from the crash site had raised serious questions about the country’s emergency-response capacity.
“At a moment when every second matters, a country of more than 200 million people should have properly equipped, highly trained and rapidly deployable emergency-response teams capable of reaching difficult terrain with the equipment required for search, rescue and recovery,” Sowore said.
He called for a thorough and transparent investigation into the cause of the crash.
According to him, the investigation should also examine the emergency response, including how quickly help arrived, the equipment available to responders, the obstacles encountered at the scene and whether lives could have been saved with a better-prepared emergency system.
“There must be a thorough and transparent investigation into what caused this crash. But we must also investigate the emergency response — how quickly help arrived, what equipment was available, what obstacles responders encountered, and whether lives could have been saved with a better prepared system,” he said.
Sowore added: “A disaster is tragic. Being unprepared to respond to one makes the tragedy even more painful.”
He said his thoughts remained with everyone aboard the aircraft, their families and the communities affected by the incident.
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