"Patience Jonathan is not guilty"

The Presidency debunks rumours that the first lady's travel necessatitated the closure of the air space for 2 hours

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE OFFICE OF FIRST LADY OF NIGERIA....AYO OSINULU

The Presidency has condemned what it described as an orchestrated plan to POLITICIZE the Sunday Dana Air crash in Lagos.

This reaction was in reference to rumours that the VIP movement of the first lady, Patience Jonathan, may have been a possible cause of the accident.

A statement by the Special Assistant to the President, Office of the First Lady, Ayo Osinlu, said though the first lady was in Lagos at the weekend she was no where close to the airport.

"Our attention has been drawn to the orchestrated plan to politicise the Sunday Dana Air crash in Lagos in which many people lost their lives, through rumours about the possible cause of the accident citing VIP movement involving the wife of the president," he said.

"We consider it callous, inhuman and devilish for anyone to have thought of wrapping such national calamity in political garb by insinuating that the plane crashed because the airspace was closed for the first lady's movement in Lagos.

"For the avoidance of doubt, the first lady arrived Lagos at about 2pm on Saturday, 2nd June, 2012 for a private engagement and was billed to leave for Abuja on Monday, 4th June, 2012.

In compliance with her itinerary, she arrived Lagos on Saturday. She was at a public event on Sunday when the accident occurred and promptly abandoned the ceremony as a mark of respect for the victims and retired to the State House, Marina. She left Lagos at exactly 13.15hrs on Monday, 4th June, 2012, according to schedule.

It is therefore surprising that some mischievous persons will see this moment of national mourning as an opportunity to blackmail and impugn the first lady’s integrity. This is the time for all Nigerians to be sober and pray for the repose of the souls of the victims and not a time to subordinate the interests of our nation to narrow self-serving interests.

Let us all put the interest of the nation first in whatever we do. Mrs Jonathan had no intention to travel on Sunday and never did. Like all Nigerians, she has been mourning the dead."