The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau, NSIB, has dismissed suggestions that its preliminary report on the Port Harcourt International Airport incident involving an Air Peace aircraft was intended to undermine the airline.
Speaking in an interview with Arise Television on Friday, the Director-General of NSIB, Captain Alex Badeh, described the claims as “extremely insulting.”
“We’re in the eye of the storm. Sometimes people react in different ways. We’ve heard them say [it’s] smear campaign against the airline, but I must point out this is not our first preliminary report we’ve published. At least [while] at the helm at NSIB in 18 months, we’ve published countless, even on Air Peace.
“It’s a little surprising to suddenly hear that there is a smear campaign against Air Peace. In every other incident, there was no smear campaign until now, but again, we’re not here to litigate these. We’re here for the facts,” he said.
Badeh emphasized that the toxicology tests conducted on the crew following the July 13 incident were not carried out by the bureau, noting that the NSIB could not release premature announcements about the results.
He further clarified that the findings in the preliminary report should not be interpreted as blame or indictment of the airline.
