Professor Barth Nnaji
Minister of Power, Professor Barth Nnaji, was among the over 200 passengers who were stranded for over an hour inside the London-Abuja bound British Airways aircraft after its landing on Saturday around 5am due to power outage at the Abuja airport, Daily Trust investigation shows.
According to one of the passengers who spoke to Daily Trust yesterday, Nnaji was among the first class passengers of the British Airways X3 aircraft when the incident happened. The passenger, who didn’t want his name in print, explained that they had a smooth flight from London until they landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.
“We touched down just some few minutes to 5am. Just as we are taxing to the parking lot, the light at the terminal building went off and there was total darkness,” he said.
He explained that, “after about five to ten minutes, the pilot announced to us that we can’t disembark from the plane because of power failure at the airport. We were frazzled by that development, particularly after that long trip. “About 30 minutes later, the pilot made another announcement saying that the airport authorities couldn’t fix the light therefore, we should remain inside the plane till day break.”
The passenger added that the pilot explained that “it was better to remain inside the aircraft since there is air-conditioning system, adding that even if we disembark, there was darkness at the terminal. He said that the passengers remained inside the aircraft for 1:25 minutes. But the minister of power, our source said, decided to maintain “an embarrassing silence” while the incident lasted. “After the light was restored, he just disembarked and slipped away,” our source said.
The spokesperson of Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Mr Akin Olukunle earlier attributed the incident to “technical failure.” A staff of the British Airways, who was on duty at the airport when the incident occurred, said that after the power outage, they contacted officials of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), but they could not fix the problem and the airport’s standby generator was faulty.
Culled from Daily Trust