Accra, Oct.31, GNA - Vice President Aliu Mahama on Tuesday cheered up the Government of Nigeria over the fatal plane crash that claimed the lives of high profile people including the Sultan of Sokoto, Mohammed Maccido and some senators.
Signing a book of condolence at the Nigerian High Commission in Accra, Vice President Alhaji Mahama, flanked by Sheikh Nuhu Sharabutu, National Chief Imam and some Muslim leaders expressed the sympathy of the Government and people of Ghana to the Nigerian State. The Boeing 737 aircraft plunged into a farm two kilometres away after take off from Abuja Airport on Sunday, October 29, killing 96 people on a flight to Northern City of Sokoto.
Vice President Alhaji Mahama disclosed that President John Agyekum Kufuor, had already sent a letter of condolence to President Olusegun Obasanjo and Nigerians who had experienced three air disasters in less than a year.
He recalled that some few months ago a similar tragedy claimed the lives of top military generals.
"Ghana stands in solidarity with Nigeria. May Allah grant the dead the mercies and everlasting rest in his bosom. We hope and pray that this kind of disaster would never happen again," he said.
Dr Olatunyi Kolapo, Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana, said the late Sultan had the previous day joined President Obasanjo to participate in a Presidential Forum on Education in Abuja together with the unnamed senators and the Deputy Governor of Sokoto. He said the air disaster came at the time when the country was restructuring the Aviation Industry including the provision of a modern radar system and other state of the art equipment to improve on air safety.
Vice President Alhaji Mahama later joined Sheikh Sharabutu and some Muslim leaders to offer special prayers for the victims.
