The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has lambasted the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, over what it described as an insensitive joke about the 2006 ADC Airlines crash that claimed 96 lives, including that of the then Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Muhammadu Maccido.
The party, in a statement issued on Saturday by its National Publicity Secretary, Bola Abdullahi, faulted Akpabio’s remarks during a Senate plenary where he allegedly made a mockery of the tragedy while taunting opposition parties.
Akpabio, while responding to political jabs from minority lawmakers, reportedly said, “I am in total sympathy with what’s going on. The PDP is on the ground, their umbrella is turned. The Labour Party is scattered… ADC airline, ADC crashed — sorry, ADC crashed even before it took off,” before bursting into laughter.
The comment has since sparked outrage across political and social circles, with many describing it as a tasteless reference to one of Nigeria’s darkest aviation disasters.
Reacting on his official X handle, Abdullahi condemned the Senate President’s utterance, saying it was “deeply disrespectful to the memory of those who lost their lives in the 2006 tragedy.”
“On October 29, 2006, ADC Airlines Flight 053 crashed in Abuja, killing 96 people, including the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Muhammadu Maccido, who was on his way to an education summit organised by the Federal Government. It is this same national tragedy that the Senate President has chosen to turn into a joke. Who are these people?” Abdullahi queried.
The ADC spokesperson further urged the Senate President to tender a public apology to the victims’ families and to the entire nation, describing the remark as “a grave moral misstep unbecoming of a national leader.”
The 2006 ADC Airlines crash remains one of the most devastating air disasters in Nigeria’s history, leaving an indelible scar on the nation’s collective memory.
