“This is one mortal blow to our underbelly, at a time our armed forces are poised to end the security challenges facing the country.”
– President Muhammadu Buhari
Nigeria as a country has always experienced tragedies in which the cold hands of death snatch its best brains in the political, spiritual, academic citadels or the private sector. Such death, even when it is accepted as a necessary end, becomes very painful when it comes tragically, as occured last Friday, May 21, 2021, in the troubled state of Kaduna, which has had security challenges in recent months.
When the sad news filled the airwaves that an Air Force plane had crashed, claiming the life of Nigeria’s army chief, Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru, and 10 others, the reactions ranged from shock to disbelief, grief and a feeling of helplessness.
On the entourage of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) were Brigadier General M.I. Abdulkadir, Brigadier General Olayinka, Brigadier General Kuliya, Major L.A. Hayat, Major Hamza and Sergeant Umar. The plane’s crew were Flight Lieutenant T.O. Asaniyi, Flight Lieutenant A.A. Olufade, Sergeant Adesina and A.C.M. Oyedo.
In one of his famous plays, William Shakespeare quotes Calpurnia: “When beggars die there are no comets seen; The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.”
These gallant officers were Nigeria’s princes. They served their fatherland and died in the service of the nation. Their services were to help rescue the country from the scourge of insecurity. They came, they saw, but death ended it tragedically, leaving pain and sorrow with their families, colleagues and the country. Impressively, they were all interred honorably like the real heroes of Nigeria that they were. The painful question on the lips of observers is, when shall we see the end of military plane crashes in the country, especially when it concerns trained officers?
Can’t these crashes be avoided?
Between May 1967 and May 1968, Lt. Colonel Joseph Akahan was the first Nigerian Chief of Army Staff that was killed in a helicopter crash during the Nigerian civil war. On December 12, 2012, there was a plane crash involving the former Army Chief of Staff and the National Security Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, Lt. General Andrew Azazi, there was no aviation investigation report made known to Nigerians on the cause of the crash.
Again, Deputy Inspector-General of police in charge of federal operations, John Haruna, died alongside three other officers in a police helicopter, which was delivered in December 2011 but crashed into buildings in Kabong, Jos, the Plateau State capital, minutes after takeoff on March 15, 2012 .
Three months ago, a small passenger plane belonging to the Nigerian Air Force was reported to have crashed after an alledged engine failure while on a mission to rescue 42 released abducted students in Minna. Reports said all seven persons on board died.
In all, the country has lost 11 military aircraft, with 33 officers dead in six years. After one such crash, the Nigerian Air Force urged members of the public to “remain calm and await the outcome of investigation.” Again the Air Force has released a statement urging the public to be calm and await the outcome of the investigation.
Yet till date, no aviation investigation report has been made available to Nigerians, as if these great officers were not trained and serviced with Nigerian taxpayers’ money.
Nigerians deserve to know the outcome of any investigation carried out on their behalf that relates to public officers. The cause of the death of the COAS and 10 other officers should not be swept under the carpet; whether the crash was attributed to weather, mechanical or human error, Nigerians, whose commonwealth was used to train all the officers as well as the purchase of the plane, need to know about the investigation report.
There should not be any hasty conclusion, as nothing has been heard of the black box. It, therefore, behoves on the military and the Federal Government not to overlook the myriad of calls across the country requesting for an independent investigation into the actual cause of the crash that claimed the lives of some of the finest serving military officers in the country.
Investigation helps to apportion blame and penalize those found wanting. Apart from these, investigation becomes correctional when faults are identified so that institutions and government would not permit the recurrence of such negligence or mistakes.
All the maintenance personnel of the Nigeria Air Force should be gathered for spiritual deliverance considering the increasing number of crashes despite the regular maintenance procedures. One thinks that, maybe, after the spiritual exercise, the blood-sucking demon responsible for these crashes would have been exorcised.
Also, Nigerians would want to know who gave the order to divert the plane from landing at the military airbase in Kaduna to the Kaduna International Airport.
These great and gallant officers died in the service of their country and all the COAS visions for the Army, unfortunately, died with him, and such eternal service should not be in vain.
————————————————————
Sheikh Gumi’s vexed passion (1)
Listening to a YouTube video, where Islamic scholar, Sheikh Gumi was passionately justifying the activities of both the vicious herdsmen and the local terrorists subtly known as northern bandits, one is almost left to think that he is arrogating a lot of power or position to himself, on the one hand, and was ready to attract uncomplimentary comments on himself. I was not only shocked to my marrow, just as listeners of Nigeria Info 95.1 FM Abuja blasted him in various descriptions after the radio station aired the interview with the Sheikh.
In the recorded interview with the controversial Islamic scholar, Sheikh Gumi was passionately defending and propounding unpalatable excuses for armed Fulani herdsmen and their evil co-travellers, the forest bandits. He gave a historical narrative of himself and how he was sponsored by Nigeria up to his university education. He regarded his involvement with the bandits as a passionate mission to negotiate for their freedom and would not succumb to labelling them and neither would he accept branding them as criminals.
In fact, he was so engrossed in his unsolicited passion for these bandits that he fell over caution by describing the raging Nigerian Army as aggressors and perpetrators of genocide for killing these illegally armed criminals. As the interview progressed, Gumi saw no sin in the bandits extorting huge amounts from their abductees as ransom.
Further justifying their evil deeds as the outcome of government neglect, he called on government to provide them with social amenities like schools, hospitals and jobs to cater for their families. He claimed having unhindered access to over 90 per cent of these criminals, especially the kidnappers. He pointed accusing fingers at the government and the military for being “highhanded” towards them and he is not ready to accept the arguement that they are criminals.
Said he, “Herdsmen are no criminals, the government turned them into criminality.”
(To be continued)