ABUJA, Nigeria – Seven Nigerian Air Force (NAF) personnel killed in a fatal plane crash in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Sunday were about to discover the whereabouts of dozens of students abducted by armed men from his school in north-central Nigeria last week, two high-level military sources told The Daily Beast.
The crew, led by Flight Lieutenant Haruna Gadzama, the captain of the plane, and Flight Lieutenant Henry Piyo, the co-pilot, spent days in Minna, the state capital of Nigeria, in north-central Nigeria. conducting intelligence gathering missions in connection with efforts to secure the release of 42 people, including 27 students. The group was abducted last Wednesday, when men armed with military uniforms attacked the Government Science College in Kagara and killed a student in the process.
On Sunday, officers received information about the location of the abductees. According to the two military sources, they quickly flew to Abuja Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport to refuel their Beechcraft KingAir B350i aircraft. When they returned to Minna, when the NAF said the plane reported an engine failure and crashed when it tried to return to Abuja and killed everyone on board.
“They had a clue where the students were at the time and were preparing to inspect the area when the accident occurred,” one of the military sources, a NAF official, told The Daily Beast. The source added that if the incident had not occurred, he believed that Air Force agents “could have reported the exact location of all the kidnapped from the Kagara school.”
The news of the plane crash sparked anxiety in Nigeria and sparked rumors on social media that the aircraft may have been deliberately touched by actors who wanted to get rid of the seven agents, described by the NAF in a statement as to “well-trained” and “dedicated staff.” The country’s chief of 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 northeast, where militants backed by ISIS and Boko Haram operate.
“We should remain calm and wait for the outcome of the army investigation,” said Nigerian Aviation Minister Sirika Hadi On Sunday he tweeted, which seems to address the rumors revolving around the cause of the accident. Nigerian authorities have often been accused of protecting armed groups affiliated with the Fulani tribe of the predominantly Muslim American region of Nigeria, of which President Muhammadu Buhari is president. Most of the officers killed in Sunday’s plane crash were from southern Nigeria, a predominantly Christian region.
“Investigators will examine all possible causes of the crash, including dirty games,” another military source told The Daily Beast. “I am just happy to be the new Chief of Staff [who was appointed late in January] I would like to get to the bottom of the matter. “
It is not the first time that the death of experienced NAF officers at the forefront of the fight against dangerous militants leads to an investigation.
Last year, the country’s first female fighter helicopter pilot, Tolulope Arotile, died due to the impact of a reversing vehicle that had crashed into her, raising suspicion in Nigeria that she was be murdered. According to the NAF, Arotile was “involuntarily beaten” by “an excited former Air Force High School classmate while trying to greet her” at the NAF base in the northwestern city of Kaduna. The 24-year-old had just returned from an operation the military called “Gama Aiki” in the state of Niger, where she was deployed in the fight against militants backed by ISIS and other criminal gangs, locally called “bandits”. , flying combat missions. His final combat mission in northern Nigeria was devastating for the terrorists he attacked.
Like Arotile, the seven NAF members killed in Sunday’s crash had been key players in the fight to rid bandits and jihadists in northern Nigeria. According to the NAF, “in the course of carrying out intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions,[the officers] he had operated in virtually every theater, including the Northeast, Northwest, and North Center. ” Records show that they flew in one of the three Beechcraft King Air 350is of the NAF and were arguably some of the most experienced and reliable in the Air Force, which said the loss has suffered a severe blow.
“The NAF would have difficulty replacing staff based on their training and experience gained over the years,” Ibikunle Daramola, director of Public Relations and Information at the NAF, said in a press release on behalf of the head of cabinet Amao. “However, the Service was comforted by the fact that the dead staff gave all their service to the country.”