President Jonathan, Nigeria Navy Confirm Crash, Offer Details About Helicopter Crash. Sahara Reporters

Presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati and a
spokesman of the Nigerian Navy have
confirmed the crash of a helicopter in the
Nembe-Okoroba area of Bayelsa State that
claimed the lives of Kaduna state Governor
Patrick Yakowa and former NSA, Andrew
Owoye Azazi this afternoon Nigerian time.
In his statement, Mr. Abati disclosed that two
Nigerian navy pilots as well aides of Governor
Yakowa and Mr. Azazi also died in the crash.
Apart from Azazi and Yakowa, four other
persons died in the crash, they include:
Governor Yakowa’s special adviser, Dauda
Tsoho and Warrant Officer Mohammed Kamal
who was Azazi bodyguard as well as two naval
pilots, Commander Muritala Mohammed Daba
and Lt. Adeyemi O. Sowole.
Also, Commodore Kabir Aliyu of the Nigerian
Navy disclosed that a Navy’s Agusta
helicopter crashed, even though he would not
confirm the identities of the passengers who
died.
The spokesman was willing to state only that
the ill-fated Agusta helicopter “was conveying
Very Important Personalities (VIPs) to Port
Harcourt from Okoroba village.”
In his statement, the naval officer disclosed:
“A Nigerian Navy Agusta helicopter (Helo 07)
crashed today, Saturday 15 December 2012
at about 3:30 p.m. around Nembe-Okoroba
area in Bayelsa State. The helicopter was
conveying some VIPs to Port Harcourt from
Okoroba Village also in Bayelsa State.”
Another military source told SaharaReporters
that the helicopter caught fire on impact. The
source disclosed that some of the passengers
on board were burnt beyond recognition.
The Nigerian Navy had two helicopters at the
scene of the burial of the father of presidential
aide, Oronto Douglas. SaharaReporters
determined that Governor Patrick Ibrahim
Yakowa of Kaduna state and former National
Security Adviser, Andrew Owoye Azazi, were
on board the doomed helicopter.
A source told SaharaReporters that Mr. Azazi,
a retired general, had invited Governor
Yakowa to fly with him on the helicopter to
the Rivers State capital, Port Harcourt. The
governor’s flight was reportedly late in
arriving in Yenogoa, the capital of Bayelsa
State.