www.peoplesdaily-online.com
Vol. 8 No. 55
Friday, June 8, 2012
. . . putting the people first
N2bn scam: Court grants Sylva bail
Gunmen kidnap Lebanese in Benue
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CBN approves N75bn agriculture grant
Rajab 18, 1433 AH
N150
NNPC denies order to refund N3.08trillion
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Yes, our plane suffered engine failure –DANA Air From Suleiman Idris, Lagos with agency report
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ANA Air, the operator of the commercial plane that crashed in Lagos on Sunday, said yesterday that the pilot reported engine failure just before it went down, but it was not clear if one or two engines had failed.
The Boeing McDonnell Douglas MD-83 plane came down on an apartment block, killing all 153 people on board and, at least, six people on the ground. It was Nigeria’s worst airline disaster for nearly two decades. The airline had previously said only that the plane had no
mechanical faults before the accident. Yesterday’s comments follow a statement by Aviation Minister Stella Oduah on Wednesday that both engines had failed. DANA’s director of flight operations told a news conference yesterday: “There was a mayday call for engine
failure at 1442 hours (1342 GMT). “We don’t know if it was one or two.” All the planes used by Dana have been tested to ensure they can fly on just one engine, in accordance with international norms, he said. Iberia Airlines, owned by International Airlines Group,
was in charge of maintenance, he said. Wilson said inferring from the mayday call that the plane had crashed because both engines failed was a “pure speculation”. “We don’t know why it crashed. We cannot say the exact cause of the accident Contd on Page 2
2015: ANC, CPC reopen merger talks . . . as Buhari, Tinubu demand positive change By Lawrence Olaoye
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L-R: Governor Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe state, in a handshake with Chairman, All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), Yobe state chapter, Alhaji Sani Inuwa Nguru, during an oath-taking session for newly appointed High Court judges and Kadis, yesterday in Damaturu.
possible merger between the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) topped the agenda of a meeting between former Head of State and candidate of the CPC in the 2011 Presidential election and Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, national leader of ANC, yesterday in Kaduna. Rising from the meeting which began at 7 pm and ended after an hour, the two opposition leaders were unanimous in their resolve to ensure “positive change” in the 2015 general elections. Initially, Tinubu said he was in Kaduna on a return visit to Buhari who had earlier paid
him a visit in Lagos. On the matter of merger, he said the two discussed “national issues” generally, but he told journalists they were free to interpret the meeting the way they wanted. He said: “I will allow you to make your wise judgement about that. I am a politician and not a magician. I will rather allow you to wait until the pigeon is out of the hat.” However, when pressed on the merger issue, Tinubu explained: “I told you at the beginning that the doors were left open. We are not part of any secret about it and politics is not a dark room event. It is about openness, transparency, and the ability to work with one another and set a common Contd on Page 2