Former President Gen. Yakubu Gowon said on Wednesday in Kafanchan, Kaduna State he miraculously skipped the helicopter that crashed eliminating Kaduna State Governor Patrick Yakowa and ex-National Safety Agent Andrew Azazi in Bayelsa State on Saturday.
Gowon stated this throughout a Special Service Session to mark the 50th birthday celebration of Apostle Emmanuel Kure of Throney in Broom Ministry, Kafanchan.
He said, “As we were with the aide to the President to pay our condolences, they were arranging a Navy helicopter to take us to Yenogoa (with Yakowa). But, another helicopter was arranged for me and five others. And that was it.
“So when I heard about this accident, it really pained me. And I want to say, well, you can never tell with some of these things. It was an accident. Don’t impugn any meaning to it. Don’t say that it was planned to get rid of some people or something like that.
“It was an accident, yes. There was this young pilot of the helicopter, who came to me after another helicopter, was found for us, and he said to me, ‘Sir, but I was all ready to take you to Yenagoa as part of my duty today’. And I said to him, ‘don’t worry, there will be another time. I really hope I will have the pleasure of flying with you again’.
“These were nice innocent people. Something, probably mechanical, went wrong to have caused the accident. So it was not a plan to get rid of the governor for whatever any reason people want to guess.