The naval helicopter which crashed in the Nembe area of Bayelsa State, South-South Nigeria, late Saturday afternoon, killing Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State, former National Security Adviser Gen. Owoeye Azazi (retd.) and four others was apparently faulty, an eyewitness has said.

The six men, it would be recalled, died after the helicopter conveying them after they attended the burial of Pa Douglas Obebara, father of Oronto Douglas, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Research, Documentation and Strategy, crashed around 4:30 p.m.

Cosmas Asogwa, who travelled from Abuja, the Nigerian capital, to Bayelsa to attend the burial of Pa Douglas, said this evening that he noticed the helicopter having problems shortly after take-off.

“There was this particular chopper aircraft that was so erratic and obviously faulty. At one point, I had the feelings that it was about crashing directly on top of the library building in which I was at the time. In panic, I looked through the library window and took this picture of what might well have turned out to be the ill fated aircraft,” Asogwa, an acquaintance of Oronto Douglas, wrote in his blog, also publishing the photo of an apparently distressed helicopter. 

He also recounted his encounter with Yakowa and Azazi,whose photograph he took as they walked together towards Oronto Douglas country home for what turned out to be their last activity on earth.

•Photo: Asogwa (seen here in Nembe on the day of the crash) saw a troubled helicopter shortly before the crash.