2006 Air Force plane crash : Remembering 13 Military heroes

On Sunday the 17th of September, 2006, Airforce plane, Dornier 228 had a fatal crash on Mbakunu hills in Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State that killed 13 top military officers. The plane took off from Abuja that morning to Obudu Ranch for a retreat, only five (5) people survived the crash. The period was a moment of mourning and grief for the immediate families and Nigerians. The death of the military officers on Mbakunu hills , a Tiv settlement is so painful.
Brigadier Mohammed Babakolo Bawa one of the victims from Niger State was Chairman attitudinal change implementation committee in the army. When his father died in 1985, he took the leadership of the family and trained 21 of his brothers .

His brother, Mohammed Tuga Bawa in an interview with Sunday Vanguard, September 24, 2006, said “my brother, General Bawa had four (4) wives and nine (9) children. He did everything to unite the family and ensured that we remain as one. Anything that was capable of bringing discord and acrimony, he quickly moved like the army officer he was to resolve the problem. General Bawa’s 80 year old mother came all the way from Kutigi to Abuja and prayed for her son before the remains was lowered to the grave.

In Ikinyiwa, home of one of the victims, Major General Joseph Olutayo Agboola ( military secretary ), an Iroko tree has fallen. All shops in the town were closed in his honor. The Royal father of Ikinyiwa in October that year was to own a car promised to him by Major Agboola. The dream was shattered with the death of Agboola who was described as a pillar of development in the community.

The Akinyinwa of Ikinyiwa Ijesaland Oba James Oluyide Adeyemi was having intra trouble. Sunday Vanguard Quoted the royal father in an interview saying “My illustrious subject the deceased promised me a car in October, now I can’t even get a tyre. This is a shattered hope. When we heard of a military plane crash, the community never thought that our own General Tayo Agboola was a victim. He was the rising star of our generation. He was the star we looked up to, now our star has fallen.”

For several minutes, the monarch could not utter a word. He gazed into the ceiling in the palace and became like somebody in a trance.

Later, he said: “My people are mourning. You can see that my domain is sad with the incident that has cost us our very best. Where do we go from here? This is a sad episode in our life as a people and community.”

The royal father’s account was the same of the grieving moment in all the communities of the fallen heroes. Edo state was the worst hit as it lost four (4) promising young military officers in the crash.

By 8.45am, 21st September 2006, the bodies of Wing Commander Solomon Balogun, Wing Commander E.O. Adekunle. Lt. Col. N.A. Mohammed, Brigdier-General M.B Bawa, Brigadier-General Briamah and Major-General J.O. Agboola were brought to the National Cemetry for interment.

Others were Major-General B. Duniya, Major-General J.T.U. Amedu, Major-General P.M. Haruna, Major-General S.M. Lemu, Major-General S.O. Otubu, Major-General A.N. Bamali and Major-General J.O. Adesunloye. Brigadier-General Mohammed Yekini, the Director of Islamic Affairs of the Nigeria army, at 10:06am, led the Moslem prayer for the repose of the souls of the fallen heroes.

Former President Ibrahim Babangida, his wife, Maryam, President of Sierra Leone, Tejan Kabbah, former Zambian President, Kenneth Kaunda, representative of Mali Government, Ghana Military officers were at the funeral rites. Senate President Ken Nnamani led members of the upper chamber and the Speaker, House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Masari to the funeral ceremony and bid farewell to the fallen compatriots.

At 1:18pm, the final interment and gun salutes were performed and 1:32pm, the national anthem brought to an end the burial of the promising generals who would have contributed to the greatness of the country.

General Nuhu Angbazo is a house hold name in Nigeria and beyond, not because he is a retired General or Governorship candidate for one of the political parties in Nasarawa State for 2027 general elections. The grace of God, His goodness, mercies and compassion illuminates his life.

The General was among the five (5) survivors of the Plane crash. The General, by the grace of God also survived a fatal road accident along Keffi-Abuja road. In a well attended thanks giving service held at ECWA Church Nasarawa Eggon on 1st April , 2007, the chief celebrant General Angbazo sang “ I have seen the Lord’s goodness, His mercies and compassion…’’.

He told a moved to pity testimony that demonstrated God has the final say over life and death .

“I sustained 50% burns of my body , broken ribs , ruptured spleen and liver , amongst a long list of other injuries . For days I hovered between life and death with an eventual loss of my right leg below the knee. Survival seemed next to impossible, but God intervened . I gradually regained consciousness , began breathing without a ventilator and more than five surgeries later, on my left leg . I started learning how to walk again – baby steps for a once fit soldier’’.

‘’The 13 weeks of in-patient hospital care were the longest of my 40 years on earth, but my living through all this is one of God’s many miracles. Despite the odds stacked against me was never removed from God’s protective hand. The hand of the Lord was so much in many things from September 17th that just didn’t happen because of chance, luck or fate. Discovery of the crash site by 14 year old Detimbir Chia. Timely medical care, evacuation to South Africa for expert medical care . Early detection of a blood clot that could have had disastrous consequences . Nothing escapes God’s notice , not even the circumstances in your life, whether monumental or mundane. Most of us can only imagine such scenes , but still everyone sooner or later faces the reality of feeling as if life is spinning out of control.

‘’During the time shortly after the crash as I drifted in and out of consciousness , I had a trance –like vision. I remember seeing myself on a mountain –looking across I saw yet another hillside with such beauty that words cannot adequately describe. A closer look revealed a deep abyss separating me from that glorious site. I could see people of different ages , some simply walking across with relative ease while some coming from with all the strength and speed they could muster but yet not making it to the other side. I can still vividly hear their terror stricken screams as it slowly disappeared into the deep abyss .

Then that voice asking ‘’ what about you Nuhu?

‘’ I now ask you ……what about you? If you were there , would you have made it to the other side? Your life may be morally clean, you may be living a life that is impressive to others but you are light years from being righteous before God, until you have surrendered your life to Christ alone, by faith alone , you are lost’’.

The Bible text for the service were carefully chosen Psalm 116; 3-14, Congregational Hymn SS&S 23 (To God be the glory Great things He has done) Second Congregational Hymn SS&S 530 ( With my savior ever near to guide me).

“Imagine….imagine the deafening sound of a loud thunderous bang with repeated violent shuddering of the plane, the horrifying sounds of crunching and destruction as the plane skids to a sudden stop. Then , an engulfing eerie silence with the plane’s carcass lying in pieces all around you.

‘’Imagine having your thoughts instantly turn to your loved ones and thinking ‘’ I will never see them again ….’’ Then , the harrowing moment of waiting in immense pain to cross from life to death or somehow survive’’

‘’Now, imagine hearing a clear distinct authoritative voice assuring you that His presence was there with you, lovingly telling you ‘I am not through with you yet my son.’

‘’In the intense moments after this dreadful incident that claimed the lives of 13 top military officers but miraculously spared five others, amongst whom was my humble self – Lt. Col. Nuhu E. Angbazo ‘’.

Sunday Vanguard of September 24, 2006 (page 17) described Mbakunu, the village on whose hills the crash occurred “Mbakunu appears to be a world out of this world. Cut out of almost the entire state because of the deplorable state of the road. Apart from a secondary school founded in the early eighties (80s) by the state government, there is complete absence of modern facilities in the community. Most of the inhabitants of the conical shaped thatch houses are either illiterates or products of an attempted schooling.”

The above description put a thought in mind, will anything good come out of Mbakunu?

Detimbir Chia, 14 year old boy who located the crash site is from the village. The bravery he displayed saved the lives of five (5) distressed soldiers.

The last in the family of nine (9), twenty (20) years ago, Chia was a form two junior secondary school student who had the ambition of being a soldier and today that dream has been fulfilled as a captain in the Nigerian Military.

Answering questions from

journalists Detimbir said, “if there was available medical facilities in the community, even the people who died later would have been saved because they were well enough when we got there almost four hours after the crash. While we mourn these people, I call on the state government and even the Nigerian army to set up clinics and even better school for my people here”.

He told Sunday Vanguard: “I want to be a soldier when I finish secondary school. When I saw that the people who were involved in the crash were soldiers, I became more determined to help them because I felt that helping people who were in distress in the nearest future would be my colleagues.”

Sunday Vanguard asked Detimbir why he was not afraid after seeing several dead bodies and such a gory sight, he answered: ‘I was not afraid because I felt that as human beings, we should be our brothers’ keeper. Moreover, they were in apparent pains and I felt that the only way to demonstrate what I have learnt in the Church was to assist them by bringing them out”

Indeed, how time flies.