Averting Future Nigerian Military Plane Crash

With the recent crash of the Nigerian Air Force plane in Ondo State, which claimed 25 lives, it has become imperative for the Nigerian government to initiate urgent and deliberate actions to strengthen oversight of ageing military fleets, and conduct a comprehensive audit of the serviceability and airworthiness of military aircraft to end the recurring accidents and avoidable loss of lives of officers and men of the Nigerian Armed Forces, Ejiofor Alike reports

The October 5, 2026 air accident involving a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) ATR-42 aircraft at Igbokoda in Ilaje Local Government Area (LGA) of Ondo State, which claimed 25 lives, has added to the list of military aircraft incidents that claimed lives of officers and men of the Nigerian Armed Forces in recent years.

The NAF authorities claimed the aircraft crashed while on a routine mission from Benin City to Lagos.

However, a young man, who claimed that his sister was one of the NAF officers on board the ill-fated flight, alleged on a video that has gone viral that the flight originally commenced from Abuja to Benin City and that his sister informed him that the plane was faulty and was being fixed in Benin City.

As was usually the case with previous crashes of military aircraft, the Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sunday Aneke, said he had directed the constitution of a panel to investigate the unfortunate incident.

However, similar investigations of previous incidents could not avert the October 5 disaster.

It should be noted that while civilian planes have not been involved in major air disasters since June 3, 2012 when Dana Air’s McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft crashed in Lagos due to dual-engine failure, military aircraft have continued to be involved in fatal accidents.

This has raised speculations that corruption and poor budgetary provisions may have hampered NAF’s capacity to sustain the serviceability and airworthiness of its aircraft.

NAF Dornier 228 aircraft (NAF030) crashed into a house at the Ribadu Cantonment in Kaduna on August 29, 2015, shortly after takeoff from the Kaduna Military Airfield. A fire erupted, destroying the house and the aircraft with all the seven people on board the flight killed.

Barely two months later on October 10, 2015, a NAF F-7Ni fighter jet crashed in Hong Local Government Area (LGA) of Adamawa State, while returning to base from a counter-insurgency mission, and the pilot, who was the sole occupant, lost his life.

Before the then Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar (rtd.) set up an investigation panel to unravel the remote and immediate causes of the accident, NAF had ruled out poor maintenance and attributed the crash to bad weather and not enemy attack.

In another incident, a NAF Beechcraft King Air B350i with registration number NAF201 crashed on February 21, 2021, near the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja after reporting engine failure, and all the seven military personnel on board the flight lost their precious lives.

On May 21, 2021, the then Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, and 10 other senior military officers were killed in an ill-fated aircraft that crashed near the Kaduna International Airport while the military officers were on their way to the passing out parade of regular recruits slated for the following day.

The other victims were 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 lead the investigation into the crash.

Three months after the crash, the AIB submitted the preliminary report to the then Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Oladayo Amao (rtd.).

A joint statement by Gabkwet and the General Manager, Public Affairs, AIB, Tunji Oketunbi, stated that the preliminary report contained a total of 27 initial findings and eight safety recommendations for immediate implementation. 

Preliminary reports, according to Oketunbi, were not the final reports.

Unfortunately, that was all that was heard of the crash.

Due to the non-release of the final report on the incident, there were conspiracy theories on the cause of the crash.

Four years later, the former Head of the covert Operation Service Wide (OSW), Major General Danjuma Ali-Keffi (rtd.), alleged that Attahiru’s death was orchestrated through “internal hostility, operational sabotage, and high-level corruption.”

According to him, Attahiru was killed due to his efforts to clean up corruption and sabotage within the military.

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 whatever issues that he had with the Nigerian Army rather than alleging sabotage on the death of the former Chief of Army Staff.

Few days after the NAF plane crash in Ondo State, one of NAF’s helicopters landed on a farmland in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, fuelling suspicion that it developed a fault, which forced the pilot to land in such an unusual environment.

The helicopter was returning from an operation against suspected kidnappers in the Ogbadigbo area of Benue State, near the Enugu-Benue boundary.

But the Director of Public Relations and Information, NAF, Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, said the landing was “in accordance with established operational and safety procedures following combat missions.”

Meanwhile, the brother of a NAF sergeant who died in the military aircraft crash in Ondo State, has claimed that he had evidence suggesting that the aircraft had developed a technical fault before the incident.

He made the allegations in a video in which he shared screenshots of messages he said were exchanged between him and his late sister before the crash.

In the screenshots, the late sergeant reportedly informed him that the aircraft had developed a fault, described in military aviation as a “snag”, while in Benin City. She also allegedly told him that she did not have N17,000 required for transportation to return home.

The brother subsequently shared what appeared to be a transfer receipt showing that he had sent N17,000 to his sister, followed by a message in which she thanked him.

The bereaved brother questioned how a sergeant who had served in the Nigerian Air Force for more than 11 years could not have N17,000.

He also disputed the military’s account that the aircraft was operating on a routine mission from Benin to Lagos, claiming that the aircraft had come from Abuja. 

The bereaved brother further demanded to know who authorised the aircraft to continue its journey to Lagos despite the alleged fault, asking, “who gave the command to manage that aircraft to Lagos?”

It is heartwarming to note that President Bola Tinubu has ordered a thorough investigation into the October 5 crash.

The Nigerian government cannot afford to treat this latest crash like other previous accidents.

President Tinubu should investigate the possible role of corruption, poor budgetary allocations and non-release of allocated funds for aircraft maintenance in the frequent military aircraft accidents.

Enough of the needless loss of the precious lives of military officers and men in avoidable air incidents.