Military air crashes: Listen to the House of Representatives

Disturbed by the frequent crashes of military planes in recent times, the House of Representatives is right to demand an independent probe and an audit of aircraft across the armed forces. The wake-up call followed the latest tragedy that occurred at the swampy location in Igbokoda community in Ondo State on October 5, 2026, claiming the lives of 19 military personnel and six civilians onboard.

A joint recovery operation by teams from the Nigerian Air Force, the Nigerian Navy, the Nigeria Police, and state agencies have since swung into action but their efforts are facing extreme challenges posed by the swampy terrain.

Nigerians have been in shock over the Igbokoda incident. However, our airspace has been defined by countless crashes from time immemorial, claiming the lives of some of the finest military brains. What makes the disasters rather painful is they did not occur while on combat assignments. None was shot down in a state of war.

Most of the calamities have occurred during routine flights. There are numerous instances of flight disaster, dating back to the late 1960s. The first tragedy in the annals of Nigerian military occurred in May 1968, when a chopper carrying the Nigerian Army Chief of Staff, 30-year-old Col. Joseph Akahan, crashed after a visit to the frontline in Nsukka during the Civil War. 

He was heading to Makurdi en route to his hometown in Gboko when disaster struck. About a year and a half later, Nigeria’s first indigenous Chief of Air Staff, Col. Shittu Alao, also died in a similar circumstance barely two years in the saddle. He was taking a solo flight in an L-29 aircraft and encountered bad weather somewhere around Benin. His aircraft ran out of fuel while straining to navigate the fog. A brave attempt to make an emergency landing was terminated when he crashed into trees.

On May 21, 2021, about 52 years after Shittu Alao’s death, a Beechcraft King Air 350 military plane crashed near Kaduna International Airport, killing another Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru, along with 10 other military personnel.

Perhaps one of the most shocking air disasters involving military planes occurred on September 26, 1992, when a Nigerian Air Force Lockheed C-130H  Hercules plunged into a swamp at Ejigbo, with 159 middle-level personnel barely three minutes after take-off from Lagos. The aircraft, ferrying mostly officers of major rank along with some foreign officers, was believed to have been overloaded with personnel and military equipment.

On September 17, 2006, a Dornier 228 belonging to the NAF came down on Mbakunu hills in Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State, killing 13 top military officers. The aircraft had taken off from Abuja to Obudu Ranch for a retreat. Only five people miraculously survived the tragedy.

Other military crashes have also occurred among those listed above, with no fewer than 10 incidents recorded between 2021 and 2026, resulting in over 60 deaths and colossal fleet losses running into billions of naira.

  
Among them was a NAF King Air 350i aircraft that crashed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, after reporting engine failure, killing all seven personnel on board on February 21, 2021. Barely a month later, a NAF Alpha Jet went missing during a combat operation against insurgents in Borno State, resulting in the loss of two pilots.

In 2022, a Nigerian Air Force Super Mushshak trainer aircraft crashed at the NAF base in Kaduna, resulting in the deaths of two pilots. On August 14, 2023, the NAF 171 helicopter crashed near Chukuba village in Shiroro Local Government Area during a casualty evacuation mission from Zungeru, killing 11 people.

There is no doubting the fact that accidents are bound to occur in human activities. Automobiles crash, ships sink and trains derail. But when such calamities occur from time to time, then something has to be done to stem the unfortunate tide. Investigations or probes followed every tragedy to determine the immediate or remote causes. Yet, the disasters have continued to plague us, as evidenced by the frequency with which precious lives and expensive military aircraft are lost, mostly outside combat assignments.

The Igbokoda crash was one disaster too many. We are on the same page with the House of Representatives in its call not only for a probe of the latest tragedy, but also for a comprehensive assessment of all the military aircraft by experts within and outside the military circle. This is not the time to exclude experts outside the military in the execution of the delicate assignment, citing security reasons.

Without preempting the outcome of the ongoing probe on the latest tragedy, experts believe that in some cases military aircraft carry passengers and equipment far above their capacities, consequently compromising safety, structural integrity and flight performance outlined in official guidelines of the Federal Civil Aviation Administration (FCAA).