A 30 – year-old man, Olayinka Bernard Adeleye, whose photograph was published as the Nigerian who died alongside other 176 passengers in the Ukraine plane crash in Tehran on January 8 said he is alive.
Adeleye added that those who used his photograph as identification for the Nigerian- Dauda Onoruoiza – that supposedly died in the Boeing 737 800 has caused him and his family trauma.
Olayinka Adeleye is the head of the department, Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LNSC) in Odi – Olowo Ojuwoye Local Council Development Area (LCDA) in Mushin.
He said his colleagues at work now addressed him as “the man that died in the crash” and some of his neighbours now call him a ghost.
Addressing reporters on Wednesday at his Lawyers Office in Papa Ajao, Mushin area of Lagos, Adeleye expressed that he was yet to recover from the shock as his mother collapsed upon hearing the news.
Olayinka Adeleye, who said he has never boarded an aircraft in his life, added that the news left his wife who gave birth a few months ago traumatized.
Expressing his disappointment, Adeleye noted that it was an awful act by the media outfit to publish his photograph as a victim of the Ukraine International Airlines crash.
He said the fake news was even more disturbing given the fact that it was published on his birthday January 10, 2020.
The Mushin indigenes said he has engaged a lawyer to write the media outfit that committed the infraction as the publication has defamed his reputation.
While expressing disappointment over the infraction, he urged relevant security agencies to investigate the source and reason for using his photograph as identification of a man that supposedly died in a plane crash.
Also speaking , Adeleye’s lawyer, Femi Martins said though the name of his client was not mentioned in the false publication, the photograph attached to the rumors is his photograph.
According to the lawyer;
This development has indeed caused very grave consequences. it has far-reaching spread to the extent that the Executive Governor of Kogi State, Yaya Bello was reported to have mourned the purported death.
We are of the opinion that appropriate sanctions should be meted out to people involved in this to serve as deterrence against future embarrassing situations. You may agree that death is the ultimate disaster anyone can think of , in particular for a young man in his prime . This to us is a national embarrassment.
Meanwhile, investigations reveal that no Nigerian died in the crash as there was no official information linking Dauda Onoruoiza as a passenger on the ill-fated flight.
According to a tweet from Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko, the victims include 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three British nationals.
