Nigerian disc jockey Obinna Levi Ajuonuma, famously known as DJ Obi, has shared that his father was never meant to board the flight that led to his tragic death, according to an interview he granted to Informationng, a news blog.
Obi’s father, Levi Chibuike Ajuonuma, a respected figure in Nigerian broadcasting community, who later joined the NNPC, tragically passed away in the Dana Air Flight 992 crash, which occurred on June 3, 2012, in the Iju-Ishaga axis of Lagos State.
During a recent interview on Afropolitan, available on YouTube, the disc jockey disclosed that his father boarded the flight at the last minute, having made a sudden decision to personally handle a work-related task.
He revealed that due to the last-minute nature of the decision, his father had purchased another passenger’s ticket and had to settle for an economy seat rather than his usual spot in business class.
He further explained that his father’s name was missing from the initial flight manifest since the ticket had been purchased under a different name.
“My dad wasn’t supposed to be on that flight but because of the type of person he was, he was trying to be diligent with work and didn’t trust the people he left the work with which made him decide to come to Lagos to oversee it,” he said.
“His boss was Diezani Alison-Madueke and he was trying to make sure everything was perfect because she had a speaking event in Eko Hotel.
“After everything happened, she was upset because if she knew he was making those plans, she would have told him to be on the private jet with her to Lagos.
“Normally, if he wanted to go on a commercial flight, he would have gotten a business class ticket.
“When the crash happened, they couldn’t find his name because he had gotten someone else’s ticket, it was that last minute effort to make it to Lagos. If he was actually supposed to be on the flight, he would have gotten a business class ticket but he took someone else’s economy seat.
“His name didn’t come up in the manifest as well. It was at the bottom because he wasn’t in the business class manifest.”
Obi went on to describe losing his father as the “most difficult period of my life,” admitting that he found it hard to accept the reality of the loss because he saw his father as his “superman.”
“That period was the most difficult time of my life. I couldn’t comprehend it. He was such a superman in my life. So, what do you mean he isn’t coming anymore?” He added.
