The remains of the bodies were gotten by hundreds of wailing sympathisers that thronged the flight terminal.
Bodies of the late governor as well as those of other 4, from the 6 of Saturday’s helicopter crash in Okorobo, Bayelsa State, had been airlifted from Yenagoa aboard a Nigerian Air Force Super Puma Helicopter NAF 567 at 11.45 am.
The other bodies that left Yenagoa along with that of Yakowa and Tsoho were those of an former National Security Adviser Gen. Owoye Azazi’s bodyguard, Warrant Officer Mohammed Kamal; and the two marine pilots, Commander Murtala Mohammed Daba, and Lt. Adeyemi Sowole.
The PUNCH found out that the NAF plane stopped at the Port Harcourt flight terminal in Rivers State where the remains were flown to different locations in different planes.
They met their death while returning from the burial of the father of President Goodluck Jonathan’s aide, Oronto Douglas. Douglas is Jonathan’s Adviser on Research, Documentation and Strategy.
The remains of Azazi, an indigene of Bayelsa, were however left in the mortuary of the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, for burial on a date yet to be announced by the government.
While the bodies of Yakowa and Tsoho were airlifted from Port Harcourt to Kaduna, those of Daba and Sowole were taken to their various home states in Kano and Lagos.
Two black caskets with silver handles bore Yakowa’s and Tsoho’s remains while three brown caskets with golden handles contained the bodies of three others.
The caskets which were covered with the Nigerian flags were accompanied by Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson; his wife, Rachel; Deputy Governor John Douglas; a former governor of the state, Diepreye Alameiseigha; commissioners and other members of the state executive council.