ABUJA — Nigeria woke on Tuesday to the heaviest blow its military has absorbed in years.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has declared three days of national mourning after a Nigerian Air
Force ATR-42 aircraft crashed near a naval base in Igbokoda, Ondo State, killing all 32 people on
board — including Air Chief Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke, the Chief of Air Staff.
Flags will fly at half-mast across the country until Thursday, the presidency confirmed in a
statement from the State House in Abuja. Tinubu called the loss “a painful moment for the
Armed Forces and the nation,” and ordered the Air Force to begin an immediate investigation
into what brought the aircraft down.
The ATR-42 was on a routine flight from Benin City to Lagos on Monday afternoon when it went
off radar and plunged into a swampy area near the coast. On board were 25 passengers and
seven crew. Rescue teams from the Nigerian Navy base at Igbokoda reached the wreckage
within hours. There were no survivors.
For the Nigerian Air Force, the death of Air Chief Marshal Aneke is a devastating blow.
Appointed Chief of Air Staff by Tinubu, Aneke had led the service through one of its most
operationally stretched periods, with aircraft deployed across the North-East against Boko
Haram and ISWAP, in the North-West against bandit groups, and in support of ECOWAS
operations further afield. Senior officers who flew with him are also among the dead.
The ATR-42 is a twin-engine turboprop used by militaries and regional airlines around the
world, with a generally strong safety record. Why this one came down over the Ondo coast is
now the subject of what the president has described as a “thorough and transparent” inquiry.
Weather in the area on Monday was unremarkable; no distress call has yet been publicly
confirmed.
Social media across Nigeria filled overnight with tributes. The Chief of Defence Staff, service
chiefs of the Army and Navy, and governors from across the federation issued condolence
messages before dawn. Religious leaders called for prayers at mosques and churches on Friday
and Sunday.
In Lagos, where the aircraft was due to land, families of the officers on board gathered at the
NAF Base in Ikeja through the night. Reporters at the gate described scenes of quiet grief,
punctuated by the arrival of senior officers in dress uniform.
This is the latest in a run of military aviation tragedies that have dogged Nigeria over the past
decade — including the 2021 Beechcraft King Air crash that killed then-Chief of Army Staff
Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru and ten others near Kaduna. Each incident has triggered
promises of a sweeping overhaul of military aviation safety. Each time, questions have lingered
about whether those reforms were fully carried out.
The political fallout is likely to be significant. Opposition figures were careful on Tuesday to
express condolences before raising questions, but by midday several lawmakers were already
calling for a public inquiry rather than an internal Air Force investigation. The House of
Representatives is expected to debate the crash when it reconvenes this week.
For now, though, the mood is one of grief. Tinubu, in his statement, said the fallen officers
“gave their lives in service of a country they loved.” He asked Nigerians to hold their families in
prayer.
A memorial service is being planned for later this week. The names of the deceased, pending
full notification of next of kin, are expected to be released by the Air Force headquarters in the
coming hours
