With the current crash of the Nigerian Air Force airplane in Ondo State, which claimed 25 lives, it has grow to be crucial for the Nigerian authorities to provoke pressing and deliberate actions to strengthen oversight of ageing army fleets, and conduct a complete audit of the serviceability and airworthiness of army plane to finish the recurring accidents and avoidable lack of lives of officers and males of the Nigerian Armed Forces, Ejiofor Alike studies
The October 5, 2026 air accident involving a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) ATR-42 plane at Igbokoda in Ilaje Local Government Area (LGA) of Ondo State, which claimed 25 lives, has added to the checklist of army plane incidents that claimed lives of officers and males of the Nigerian Armed Forces lately.
The NAF authorities claimed the plane crashed whereas on a routine mission from Benin City to Lagos.
However, a younger man, who claimed that his sister was one of many NAF officers on board the ill-fated flight, alleged on a video that has gone viral that the flight initially commenced from Abuja to Benin City and that his sister knowledgeable him that the airplane was defective and was being fastened in Benin City.
As was often the case with earlier crashes of army plane, the Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sunday Aneke, mentioned he had directed the structure of a panel to analyze the unlucky incident.
However, related investigations of earlier incidents couldn’t avert the October 5 catastrophe.
It must be famous that whereas civilian planes haven’t been concerned in main air disasters since June 3, 2012 when Dana Air’s McDonnell Douglas MD-80 plane crashed in Lagos as a consequence of dual-engine failure, army plane have continued to be concerned in deadly accidents.
This has raised speculations that corruption and poor budgetary provisions might have hampered NAF’s capability to maintain the serviceability and airworthiness of its plane.
NAF Dornier 228 plane (NAF030) crashed right into a home on the Ribadu Cantonment in Kaduna on August 29, 2015, shortly after takeoff from the Kaduna Military Airfield. A hearth erupted, destroying the home and the plane with all of the seven folks on board the flight killed.
Barely two months afterward October 10, 2015, a NAF F-7Ni fighter jet crashed in Hong Local Government Area (LGA) of Adamawa State, whereas returning to base from a counter-insurgency mission, and the pilot, who was the only real occupant, misplaced his life.
Before the then Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar (rtd.) arrange an investigation panel to unravel the distant and speedy causes of the accident, NAF had dominated out poor upkeep and attributed the crash to dangerous climate and never enemy assault.
In one other incident, a NAF Beechcraft King Air B350i with registration quantity NAF201 crashed on February 21, 2021, close to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja after reporting engine failure, and all of the seven army personnel on board the flight misplaced their valuable lives.
On May 21, 2021, the then Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, and 10 different senior army officers had been killed in an ill-fated plane that crashed close to the Kaduna International Airport whereas the army officers had been on their technique to the passing out parade of normal recruits slated for the next day.
The different victims had been Brigadier-General Mohammed Abdulkadir; Brigadier-General Olatunji Olayinka; Brigadier-General Abdulrahman Kuliya; Major Lawal Aliyu Hayat; Major Nura Hamza; Flight Lieutenant Alfred Ayodeji Olufade; Flight Lieutenant Taiwo Olufemi Asaniyi; Sergeant Umar Saidu; Sergeant Adesina Isaiah; and Aircraftman Oyedepo Matthew.
NAF subsequently mandated Nigeria’s Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), to guide the investigation into the crash.
Three months after the crash, the AIB submitted the preliminary report back to the then Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Oladayo Amao (rtd.).
A joint assertion by Gabkwet and the General Manager, Public Affairs, AIB, Tunji Oketunbi, said that the preliminary report contained a complete of 27 preliminary findings and eight security suggestions for speedy implementation.
Preliminary studies, in line with Oketunbi, weren’t the ultimate studies.
Unfortunately, that was all that was heard of the crash.
Due to the non-release of the ultimate report on the incident, there have been conspiracy theories on the reason for the crash.
Four years later, the previous Head of the covert Operation Service Wide (OSW), Major General Danjuma Ali-Keffi (rtd.), alleged that Attahiru’s loss of life was orchestrated by way of “internal hostility, operational sabotage, and high-level corruption.”
According to him, Attahiru was killed as a consequence of his efforts to wash up corruption and sabotage throughout the army.
However, a former Chief of Training and Operations, Air Vice Marshal Gbolahan Adekunle (rtd.), debunked the allegation of sabotage and urged Ali-Keffi to resolve no matter points that he had with the Nigerian Army somewhat than alleging sabotage on the loss of life of the previous Chief of Army Staff.
Few days after the NAF airplane crash in Ondo State, one in all NAF’s helicopters landed on a farmland in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, fuelling suspicion that it developed a fault, which pressured the pilot to land in such an uncommon surroundings.
The helicopter was coming back from an operation in opposition to suspected kidnappers within the Ogbadigbo space of Benue State, close to the Enugu-Benue boundary.
But the Director of Public Relations and Information, NAF, Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, mentioned the touchdown was “in accordance with established operational and safety procedures following combat missions.”
Meanwhile, the brother of a NAF sergeant who died within the army plane crash in Ondo State, has claimed that he had proof suggesting that the plane had developed a technical fault earlier than the incident.
He made the allegations in a video wherein he shared screenshots of messages he mentioned had been exchanged between him and his late sister earlier than the crash.
In the screenshots, the late sergeant reportedly knowledgeable him that the plane had developed a fault, described in army aviation as a “snag”, whereas in Benin City. She additionally allegedly advised him that she didn’t have N17,000 required for transportation to return dwelling.
The brother subsequently shared what gave the impression to be a switch receipt exhibiting that he had despatched N17,000 to his sister, adopted by a message wherein she thanked him.
The bereaved brother questioned how a sergeant who had served within the Nigerian Air Force for greater than 11 years couldn’t have N17,000.
He additionally disputed the army’s account that the plane was working on a routine mission from Benin to Lagos, claiming that the plane had come from Abuja.
The bereaved brother additional demanded to know who authorised the plane to proceed its journey to Lagos regardless of the alleged fault, asking, “who gave the command to manage that aircraft to Lagos?”
It is heartwarming to notice that President Bola Tinubu has ordered an intensive investigation into the October 5 crash.
The Nigerian authorities can not afford to deal with this newest crash like different earlier accidents.
President Tinubu ought to examine the attainable function of corruption, poor budgetary allocations and non-release of allotted funds for plane upkeep within the frequent army plane accidents.
Enough of the unnecessary lack of the dear lives of army officers and males in avoidable air incidents.
