According to a Punch Metro, Pastor Seyi Malomo, the Chaplain of the Aso Villa Chapel, on Monday revealed that it was the engine of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo’s helicopter that failed when he visited the Nigeria Customs Command and Staff College, Gwagwalada, Abuja last Thursday.
The helicopter, which conveyed Osinbajo to the graduation of 40 senior officers of Customs at the college,
had made a forced landing about 30 seconds after take-off on his return journey.
The situation forced him and members of his entourage to return to the Presidential Villa, Abuja, by road.
Osinbajo’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, had downplayed the situation in a tweet when he explained that it was decided that the Vice President should not return with the helicopter because of “technical reasons.”
But Malomo, at a special praise-and-thanksgiving event on Monday, revealed that the helicopter’s engine had failed, hence the need to thank God for Osinbajo’s “deliverance.”
He said, “Last week, we received the news with shock that the Vice-President’s helicopter engine failed and we thank God that God preserved him.
“The preservation of the leaders is the preservation of the nation and, as a result, we want to thank God.
“This programme was organised to thank God for His watchful eyes over our leaders, over our nation and more particularly, over the deliverance for the Vice President.
“We will be spending 120 hours praising God, teaching about thanksgiving, praying to God to bless Nigeria more, establish peace in Nigeria more, preserve our nation more and give us the victory that is needed.”
Malomo said the chairman of the Pentecostal Bishops Forum of Northern Nigeria, Archbishop John Praise; the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Federal Capital Territory Chapter, Rev. Isreal Akanji; senior pastors from the Redeemed Christian Church of God, among others, were invited for the programme.