IN the current scenario of incessant air disasters, Nigerians have helplessly become victims of fear, the fear of traveling by air. Within one year Nigerians have witnessed not less than five air disasters. What a big tragedy for the nation. In all these, the best brains on its shores were wasted.
The crash of Aviation Development Company (ADC) Boeing 737-200 at Tunga-Madaki in Abuja claiming about ninety six persons two weeks ago is yet another tragedy Nigerians never bargained to witness. Fate you may say was not benevolence to Nigeria as a nation but it was one event only God could give explanation for.
The ADC crash became a serious national concern because of the number of high profile personalities involved in the unfortunate accident. Personalities like his Eminence, Alhaji Muhammed Maccido, the Sultan of Sokoto, Deputy Governor of Sokoto and prominent indigenes of Kebba State which include Alhaji Garba Mohammed and Alhaji Argungu lost their lives in the crash.
Others great men who lost their lives were Senator Badamosi Maccido, Senator Sule Yari Gandi, Dr. Sanusi Junaidu, Commissioner of Education, Sokoto State, Alhaji Abdurahman Shehu Shagari, son to former President Shehu Shagari. The former President, earlier in this decade, lost four children in auto crash. Three Deputy Commissioners of Police also lost their lives. The country’s medical team lost three consultant surgeons.
Air disasters are often tragic. Chances of survival are often as thin as the air. But God in His infinite mercy has often provided a platform for some victims of air disaster to escape the cruel hands of death. The ADC disaster was unique. It gave some survivors the opportunity to tell their own stories.
When the news of the ADC crash filtered into Kogi State that three of Governor Ibrahim Idris’ daughters were on board in the ill-fated flight, the next thing that came to the minds of many was that the damsels have met their death in the disaster. They must have died without fulfilling their dreams.
But for Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris whose second name in Kogi’s political equation is known as “Mr. Equity” God in His Almighty wisdom was benevolence to his three daughters. It is no longer news that three of them survived the fatal plane disaster, which claimed ninety-six lives at a swoop. People felicitated with the man who has been lucky to be successful businessman, lucky to have grapped power and lucky to have responsible children.
Great Nationalist like Mahatma Ghandi of India, former President Shehu Shagari and Sultan Muhammed Maccido were not as lucky as Governor Idris of Kogi State. Ghandi lost his life on the eve of leading India into nationhood. Alhaji Shagari lost his four children in an auto crash earlier in this decade, and lost another one in the last ADC crash. Sultan Maccido lost his life, his son and that of his five-year old grandson in the last ADC crash. A lot of palace aides went down into graves with the foremost traditional ruler in Nigeria.
If there is any man in Nigeria today whose his “Chi” (personal god) is so kind in presenting his heritage, it is Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris. Reports from Government House, Lokoja has it that as soon as the governor learnt that his three daughters survived the crash, he never hesitated in going to Abuja on electrified speed.
The joy of Kogi people knew no bound as God in His infinite mercy spared their governor, the agony of burying three daughters in a day. The Executive Council members and the Special Advisers, Assistants and top government functionaries left their official engagements for two days to appreciate what could best be described as the 8th wonder in the world. Going by the manifest, the three daughters sat at different seats but fate assembled them as survivors.
As a mark of gratitude to God, the entire 21 Council Chairmen in Kogi State suspended their much-cherished October allocation meeting scheduled for October 30, 2006 and proceded to Abuja to cheer up the governor’s daughters. The President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and the Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar also joined them.
A lot of people who spoke to The Graphic on the ADC fatal disaster, acknowledged the fact that Governor Idris has always been a lucky man. In business he started trading in furniture, electronic devices and later joined Hotel business. He once told a story of how he slept under a truck in the course of trading.
Today he is a towering image in Nigerian political arena as well as tourism industry. In 2003 general elections, Governor Idris came behind and without clear political structure in Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), took the centre stage and overwhelminglly rubbished political icons like late Senator Ahmed Tijani Ahmed, Senator Alex Kadiri, Momoh Baro and won the PDP gubernatorial primaries in February 2003.
During the April 2003 gubernatorial election in Kogi State no one expected that Governor Idris could gather enough political momentum to bring down former Governor Abubakar Audu, the Prince of the Lower Niger. For one, Prince Audu had the state resources and enough media propaganda at his disposal at the time of the election. Alhaji Idris was however so lucky that Kogi electorate had enough clout to stand against the flamboyant Chief Executive.
Like the Moslems often puts it, Allah Akbar (God is Great), there is a mystery in the way God relates to all his creatures God’s grace is so mysterious that His love for individuals does not thrive essentially on self righteousness.
Even though Christians believed that God’s love towards His creature is uniform, there is no doubt that some individuals are more blessed than the others. Some remain God’s anointed even when their righteousness is filty rags. Governor Idris is in the category of those whom God loves and greatly blessed.
As Kogi State join millions of Nigerians in mourning the lost of ninety-six persons in the ADC crash, there is no doubt that the electorate in the state have every cause to celebrate with their God-fearing governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris for sparing the lives of his three damsels whose stars were just moving out of the cloud.
Think of the great setback it would have caused the state, if the governor was to pass through the agony of loosing these ladies. The state would have witnessed a very long lull in government administration. The psychological trauma would have affected the campaign arrangements. Rumour mills would have stage-managed unimaginable stories. God has His reasons for anointing some people. This is beyond human comprehension. And what would you expect from the mother of the three daughters, Hajia Zainab Idris, she has Thanksgiving for the prevention of departure of these three damsels, who would have gone in their prime.

The Life and Times of Sultan Maccido

Born in 1926, Sultan Muhammadu Maccido was the fourth child of late Sultan Abubakar III when the former was district head of Dange town some few kilometres in the outskirts of Sokoto.
He was nicknamed Maccido by his late father which means “servant or let them live” in Fulfulde as the three previous children before him died at infancy.
Late Muhammadu Maccido was enrolled at the Elementary School in Dange at the age of seven in 1933. He was later brought to Sokoto Elementary school for one year at Anguwar Hakki and then back to Dange where he completed his education at elementary level. On finishing at Dange Elementary School, late Muhammadu Maccido was admitted into the Sokoto Middle School now called Nagarta College.
Late Maccido was among the few candidates who successfully passed their final Middle School Examination which qualified him for admission into the Clerical Training College, Zaria 1947.
The late Sultan specialized in office administration and graduated from the college in 1949.
Before graduation, he did the mandatory attachment with the Katsina Native Authority which formed the nucleus of the institute of Administration, Kongo Campus of A.B.U. Zaria. In 1952, the late Sultan
went to South Devon Technical College, England where he obtained a Diploma in Public Administration. Some of the individuals who attended the course together with him were Prince Muhamadu Bashir (now Emir of Daura) Prince Muhammadu Bahago (now Emir of Minna and Prince Bello (now Emir of Paiko) among others.
When he returned home, he continued his job in the Sokoto Native Administration in 1952. In the same year, he was turbaned as the Chiroma Sokkwato. It was also in the same year he was persuaded to join the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) and to contest election. He became a member of the Northern Regional Legislative Assembly at Kaduna. In 1953 he was appointed the Sarkin Kudun Sokkwato and District Head of Talata Marfa in Zamfara State.
He held other posts which include Commissioner of Agriculture in 1969, Sokoto State, Chairman of NPN from 1979 – 1983 and Liaison Officer in the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria attached to Sokoto State.
Late Sultan Maccido was the direct and eldest son of Sultan Abubakar III. He held so many positions in the Sokoto establishment to a point he was considered as the master of policies and politics. According to Adamu, Angwan Gwatabe (2005), his greatest asset is that
he was all through a faithful pupil of his father (Sultan Abubakar III) and therefore understands the mechanism of power and unspoken words of the old men in the nine members council of Kingmakers.
In 1988 when Sultan Abuabakar III died, Muhammadu Maccido was initially announced as the Sultan, but later in the day it was announced that final selection was yet to be concluded. In the end, the then military governor, Ahmed Daku, announced Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki as the new Sultan and the jubilation that trailed Maccido’s announcement turned into mayhem popularly known as the famous “Banuso” episode which claimed many lives of protesters.
However, in 1996, the pendulum swung to the opposite direction when during late Abacha’s regime, Dasuki was betrayed and Maccido installed as the 19th Sultan and President, Supreme Council of Islamic affairs.
It is exactly one week today when he made his last official function here in Sokoto during the Eid-el-Fitr. In his Sallah message, Sultan Maccido called on politicians to assist the traditional institution in its role to maintain peace in the country.
He also urged them to play politics with a sense of decorum as the 2007 election approaches and cautioned them to avoid making statement capable of causing crisis against their opponents.
He urged Muslim ummah to imbibe the lesson of Ramadan which include tolerance, assisting the needy and prayer all the time.

History of ADC Air Crashes

FOUR previous flights operated by ADC Airline have crashed since 1994, according to air safety watchdogs. Three of the crashes were officially blamed on pilot error.
In 1996, one hundred and forthy three people lost their lives when an ADC boeing 727 lost control in the air over Ejirin in Lagos State. The Lagos bound plane slummed into the Lagon at near Super-Sonic speed after it took evasive action to avoid mid-air mishap with another plane flying from Lagos to Enugu, according to Air Safety Network. The accident was caused by the Lagos air-traffic controller.
One crew member was killed when BAC 1-11 overshot the runway at Calabar Airport in July, 1997. The other 49 escaped without harm when the plane crashed into a ditch at the end of the runway. The plane later rested in the bush over a kilometre away. The pilot was blamed.
Aircraft owned by ADC Airline have twice crashed at Monrovia Airport. Nobody was killed in either incident. In July, 1995, a plane lost its undercarriage landing and speeded along the runway for a kilometre. The 91 passengers and crew escaped without any injury but the pilot was blamed for approaching the poor runway too low.
In 1994, 85 people escaped without harm when an aircraft overshot the runway at Monrovia airport and burst into flames.
The Airline was started by the airport support services provider and airfreight broker Aviation Development Company Plc in 1991.
According to the Company’s website, before the crash, it operated a fleet of four boeing 737 – 200 planes.
ADC is a publicly owned company and operates from Lagos. It flights from Murtala Muhammed Airport to Abuja, Calabar, Port – Harcourt, Sokoto and Yola.