KUNLE Rotimi-Akodu, a friend to Deji Falae, one of the
victims of the ill-fated chartered flight that crashed in Lagos on Thursday,
said he had been feeling disappointed to have missed the flight before
receiving the news of the incident.
Details below:
Rotimi-Akodu said he was meant to be with his friend, Deji,
who was a commissioner in Ondo State, in the Associated Airlines plane for the
Lagos to Akure journey but that he providentially got to his friend’s house
late and missed the flight.
He was in tears at the crash site on Thursday.
He told our correspondent, “My last encounter with him was
on the phone. We spoke about how we could meet and he told me that he had some
official duties, especially the funeral programme of the former governor of
their state. So, we planned to meet in Lagos. We still spoke on Tuesday and he
said he would be in Lagos.
“We were supposed to see but unfortunately I couldn’t make
it. I called him and he said I should join him today so that we would return to
Akure together on the same plane that crashed. He said I should make haste to
meet up, but I had an emergency issue to resolve.
“By the time I actually got to his house, the housemaid told
me he had left and the wife had left home too.
“The housemaid said, ‘Oga just left, he said you should find
your way to Akure.’
I felt disappointed for him to have done that, but
because of the kind of person he was, I began to plan my trip to Akure to meet
him and incidentally, I learnt that a plane crashed as I wanted to leave home
and that Deji was also involved in the accident.
“I was dumb-founded when I heard. I looked up in my room and
saw the catalogue of pictures we took together and tears began to drop from my
eyes. I looked at the text messages we shared and began to picture myself being
with him in the plane because that was the initial arrangement, if not that I
was a bit late to join him.
“Honestly, it is still like a dream. I don’t want to believe
Deji is dead. I believe he is alive and he is still going to live his normal
life. We have lived together for years in Dolphin Estate. I have known him for
over 15 years, when he was still studying in University of Ife. We have always
been close since late 80s.”
Courtesy of: Punch


No comments:
Post a Comment