ABUJA, Nigeria – The seven Nigerian Air Force (NAF) employees who died in a fatal plane crash in Nigeria’s capital Abuja on Sunday were close to discovering the whereabouts of dozens of gunmen abducted by their school from north-central Nigeria last week, two high-ranking military sources told the Daily Beast.
The crew – led by Flight Lieutenant Haruna Gadzama, the aircraft captain and Flight Lieutenant Henry Piyo, the co-pilot – were in Minna, the capital of north-central Nigeria, conducting day-to-day intelligence gathering missions. the release of 42 people, including 27 students. The group was abducted last Wednesday, when men armed in military uniforms attacked the Government Scientific College in Kagara, killing a student in the process.
On Sunday, officers received information about the location of the abductees. According to the two military sources, they flew quickly to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja to power their Beechcraft KingAir B350i aircraft. They were on their way to Minna when NAF said the plane reported engine failures and crashed while trying to return to Abuja, killing everyone on board.
“They had an idea of where the students were at the time and were preparing to monitor the area when the accident occurred,” one NAF officer, a NAF officer, told the Daily Beast. The source added that if the incident had not taken place, he believed that air force officers “could have reported the exact location of all those abducted at Kagara School”.
News of the plane crash has created anxiety across Nigeria and led to rumors on social media that the aircraft could have been deliberately touched by actors who wanted to get rid of the seven officers, described by NAF in a statement as ” well-trained ”and“ dedicated staff. “The country’s Chief of Air Staff, Isiaka Amao, on Sunday ordered an “immediate investigation” until the death of officers who had carried out intelligence gathering operations throughout the northern region of Nigeria, including the north-east, where ISIS and Boko Haram-backed militants were active.
“We should remain calm and await the outcome of the military investigation,” said Nigerian Aviation Minister Sirika Hadi Tweeted on Sunday, appearing to address rumors surrounding the cause of the crash. Nigerian authorities have often been accused of protecting armed groups affiliated with the Fulani tribe in the predominantly Muslim northern region of Nigeria, where President Muhammadu Buhari is from. Most of the officers killed in Sunday’s plane crash come from southern Nigeria, a predominantly Christian region.
“Investigators will look into all possible causes of the crash, including bad play,” another military source told The Daily Beast. “I am sure that the new Chief of the Air Staff [who was appointed late in January] he would like to get to the bottom of the matter. ”
This is not the first time that the death of experienced NAF officers at the forefront of the fight against dangerous militants has led to an investigation.
Last year, the country’s first female fighter helicopter pilot, Tolulope Arotile, was killed due to the impact of a reversing vehicle that crashed on her, raising suspicions in Nigeria that she had been killed. According to NAF, Arotile was “accidentally hit” by “an excited Air Force high school classmate while trying to meet her” inside the NAF base in the northwestern city of Kaduna. The 24-year-old had just returned from an operation the army called the “Aiki Range” in Niger, where it was deployed in fighting militants backed by ISIS and other criminal gangs, locally called “bandits.” ”, By flight combat missions. Her final combat mission in northern Nigeria was devastating for the terrorists she targeted.
Like Arotile, the seven NAF employees killed in Sunday’s crash were key players in the fight to rid northern Nigeria of bandits and jihadists. According to NAF, “during the conduct of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions,[the officers] it has operated in almost all theaters, including the Northeast, Northwest and North Central. “Records show that they flew in one of NAF’s three Beechcraft King Air 350is and were undoubtedly some of the most experienced and reliable in the Air Force, which said it suffered a huge blow due to the loss.
“The NAF would be difficult to replace staff based on the training and experience gained over the years,” Ibikunle Daramola, NAF’s director of public relations and intelligence, said in a press release on behalf of Chief of Staff Amao Air Force. “The service was, however, comforted by the fact that the deceased staff gave all they could in the service of the nation.”