Nigeria’s Hip-Hop superstar Tuface (real name Innocent Idibia) was among the passengers that cheated death yesterday when an Aero Contractors aircraft conveying passengers to Douala in neighbouring Cameroon developed a fault mid-air.

The flight, which took off from the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, had to be aborted and made to return to the airport 30 minutes after take-off.

A report in Saturday Independent quoted Aero consultant, Mr. Simon Tumba, as saying about the incident: “Our flight AJ 2002 flying between Lagos and Douala this afternoon had an air return as a result of a sensor alarm noticed by the flight crew in the flight deck.

“Following strict safety standard procedure our flight crew decided to abort the flight. The problem had been fixed and we are awaiting NCAA approval to commence use of the aircraft.”

The paper quoted a passenger of the troubled flight as saying: “We left Lagos and like 30 minutes later, after all the refreshments. I had finished eating and then announcement came that there’s a signal that the door is open somewhere.

“That it is required we return to Lagos. Returning to Lagos was hell. The plane flew so low and that’s how we managed to return to Lagos.

“For 40 minutes, they said we should wait in the plane before we were told to disembark. Even 2Face was in the flight. That aircraft should not be allowed to fly.”

•Photo shows Tuface.