By Dapo Olufade, Group News Editor
Posted to the Web: Monday, September 25, 2006

Flown out on a chartered air ambulance aircraft from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, yesterday, were Lt. Col. Abraham Dusu and Lt. Co. N.E.Angbazo. They had been receiving treatment at National Hospital, Abuja.

The aircraft marked 911 ZS-ICU landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport at about 4 p.m. yesterday.
The foreign medical team had, on arrival, been driven to the National Hospital to have a look at the medical records of the two patients.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Andrew Azazi, was at the hospital himself to monitor the evacuation of the two military personnel. He also received the medical consultants who arrived the hospital at about 3:40 p.m.

6-man panel to probe crash

Meanwhile, President Obasanjo has constituted a six-man panel to investigate the crash. The panel is headed by retired Air Vice Marshal Audu Bida who is the current Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). He is also a safety specialist.

The panel which was not given a time frame to submit its findings will investigate the circumstances surrounding the crash. President Obasanjo had declared at the burial of the crash victims in Abuja on Thursday that government would get to the roots of the tragedy.

He commended the fallen military officers for their dedication to duty while they lived, saying they were “truly among the best that our nation has produced.”
According to President Obasanjo, what matters is not how long one lives but how one performed his duties to God and humanity, adding: “When the time comes and nobody knows when that time will come that each and everyone of us will be lifeless, what matters is how well we perform our roles on earth.”

He declared that the gathering at the burial was to “celebrate the life and service of our brothers departed and to celebrate what they had done and wish they could continue to do for the nation. But we should also reflect on why they were working and planning for the best of the country, the Armed Forces.”

The president expressed his sympathy to the immediate families of the departed soldiers and Nigerians in general, saying: “When sorrows becloud us, may God grant us the fortitude and strength to be able to stand firm with faith and hope to say it is well.”