Azman Flight with over 100 Passengers Bursts Tyre on Landing at MMIA
Major accident was averted yesterday when Azman Air flight coming from Abuja landed and bursted one of its tyres at the 18L runway of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
No casualty was recorded among the over 100 passengers on board the flight, as they were quickly evacuated.
The aircraft could not move from the runway after the incident, forcing subsequent flights to be delayed and later diverted to the international runway, known as 18R.
The incident involved a Boeing 737-500 with registration number 5N-SYS, named Sani Yunusa Sarina.
Eyewitness account said the busted tyre, which was “in tatters,” forced complete closure of the domestic runway and delay of flights, as airlines waited to be rescheduled to the use of Runway 18R by the Air Traffic Controllers.
THISDAY learnt that fire service men of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) were on ground to immediately evacuate the passengers to protect them from possible fire eruption in the aircraft.
Efforts to contact the Chairman of Azman Air, Alhaji Abdulmunaf Yunusa, were not successful as he did not respond to the calls.
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has disclosed that the commission received 9,777 requests for additional polling units across the country.
Speaking when he visited the National Secretariat of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) yesterday in Kaduna, he said requests for additional polling units increased from 5,700 in 2020 to 9,777.
Yakubu said the commission had not created polling units in the past 25 years since the establishment of 119,973 polling units in 1996.
According to him, “Since 1999, Nigeria had conducted six general election using the same polling units. The growing demand by Nigerians for additional polling units is increasing by the day.
“We did not ask them to forward their request, but they did that unsolicited. In fact, there is one request we received from a person requesting for about 800 polling units in his area.
“As of yesterday (February 15), we had received 9,777 additional requests for polling units.”
The INEC boss further stated that the agitation for the creation of additional polling units was not confined to a particular section of the country, “rather every section of the country is asking for more polling units.”
He explained that the ongoing consultations by the commission with critical stakeholders are to ensure that Nigerians understand why it has become necessary to have additional units.