11 Months After Surviving Plane Crash, Feyi Agagu Speaks!

When in October 2013, Feyi, the only son of the late former governor of Ondo State, Dr. Segun Agagu, survived the plane crash it was seen as a huge miracle as many personalities were killed. Since the incident, not much has been heard of Feyi Agagu till last week when he spoke at a conference ahead of his father’s 1 memorial lecture. Let’s tell you more about the Agagu scion.  Feyi Agagu attended International School (University of Ibadan, UI); then proceeded to study Mechanical Engineering at UI but HE didn’t finish there before he went abroad to do Computer Science at Tuskegee University where he graduated with a first-class degree in Computer Science. He proceeded to the University of California where he had a distinction in my Master’s degree in Software Engineering. In the (extracted) interview below, Feyi Agagu opened up to Punch Newspaper’s Adeola Balogun on his near-death ordeal.Excerpts:

How do you feel whenever you think you would have died during your dad’s burial?

I have never put it in that perspective. I put it this way: since the passing of my dad, I have not really had the time to mourn him. There has been one event or the other. We had just come back from a medical trip abroad. We landed on a Thursday and my father passed on the following day, several hours after. I sat down and ate pounded yam with him on Thursday and by 4pm on Friday, they called to tell me he had passed on. The event that happened during the planning of his burial is well known to everybody, I came back six months after the plane crash and have been trying to catch up ever since. So, I have never thought that ‘oh, I would have died’ or something. No, death does not have to come from a plane crash; it could be through something else. The lady that was in the hospital with me for the same injury, had been coming to take morphine shots for 13 years. That was what I took for just three weeks and I was okay. So, I can only give thanks.

Were you awake during the plane crash?

We were all awake. I don’t think anybody was asleep after we boarded the flight. The first person to board was Mr. Okusanya, the MIC boss, followed by Deji Falae, Ondo State commissioner and then me. Of course, Falae and I were talking as we walked in. Mr. Okusanya sat in row 2 or 3, Deji sat in 4 and I sat in 5. I think the next person was Deji Falae’s Special Adviser, he sat behind me. Femi, my brother-in-law, walked in after me before Falae’s SA but he went to the back and everybody was trooping into the plane. Just before we took off, I realised I was on the wings of the plane and I don’t like sitting there. I just got up and went to the back. I wouldn’t know why. Nobody called me to go to the back. When I got to the back, I saw my brother-in-law and there was a seat beside him and I took it and realised that we could strategise more on the burial ceremony during the flight. We attempted to taxi and we stopped just as we got on the runway. The person sitting right to my left, apparently the flight engineer, went to the cockpit. That must have been the point when the pilot and the co pilot were arguing whether to fly or not. I can only assume he went to convince them that the flight was okay, he never came back to sit beside me. He took the first row because Mr. Okusanya was in row 2. Then we took off and shortly after, in five or seven seconds, we crashed. Everybody was awake. I remember up to the point of the crash, I was still lucid then. Then I passed out. My brother-in-law said he tried to wake me up because he said he saw me move after the crash but he couldn’t wake me. Three of us were at the back – me, my brother-in-law and the air hostess who was the only one behind us. They tried to wake me up on time before the plane exploded and I didn’t know how long I passed out until I found myself in the hospital.

Because you survived together with another member of the family, there were insinuations that some people had to die for you to live. How did you feel hearing such stories?

It is the people who reduce the work of God to superstition that I feel sorry for. I just explained the position we took in the plane which could have been a factor; it is not just luck but grace. In our society, there is almost no success factor that people don’t tie superstition to. When my father became governor of Ondo State, superstition was tied to it. When he built bridges, they said he wanted to bury people there. Anybody that reduces the power of God to superstition has a problem. For me, I know who to give thanks to.

Did you sustain any major injury in the crash?

No, I didn’t sustain any major injury. I am here with you hale and hearty. I used to play tennis, I came back and I still play tennis. I still play soccer which I used to do before the crash. Of course, I didn’t walk out of the plane but I don’t think I look like someone who just got out of a car crash, let alone a plane crash.

Anytime you want to board a plane now, what comes to your mind?

Of course, it is still very difficult. My first local trip was about a month ago when I made a trip to Abuja and it was tough. Any sound or sudden motion could be upsetting. It is going to be something that is going to remain with me for the rest of my life. In fact, if I could walk from here to London or Abuja, I would take that option but there is no other way to get there.

It also means that you would always want a back seat…

Of course. Some of my friends made jest of me about the back seat stuff and of course on my way back, I sat on the last seat. Again, I don’t even know whether it is all about seat because it was God that saved me during the crash and I am confident that He is there to save me anytime.

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About Unknown

Deji Sadiq, a.k.a DEJI OF LAGOS is a LASU trained Economist turned freelance journalist, a Blogger, an information strategist, a public affairs analyst and a committed activist with a passion for equal opportunities.