Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Ibrahim Attahiru and seven others have died in a military Beachcraft 350 aircraft, which crashed at the Kaduna International Airport on Friday.
Impeccable aviation sources disclosed that Attahiru died alongside 10 others who were on board the aircraft with him.
Reporters At Large learnt that the ill-fated aircraft crashed at the airport’s runway about 6pm while it was raining heavily.
The aircraft, with registration number 5N-R203, was billed to land at the Nigerian Airforce Base in the Mando area of Kaduna before it diverted and attempted to land at the Kaduna International Airport.
The officers were said to be on their way to Kaduna ahead of Saturday’s passing-out parade of soldiers from the Nigerian Army Depot in Zaria.
The Nigerian Air Force confirmed that there was an accident involving one of its aircraft in Kaduna but did not provide details.
“An air crash involving a @NigAirForce aircraft occurred this evening near the Kaduna International Airport. The immediate cause of the crash is still being ascertained. More details to follow soon,” the NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Edward Gabkwet, said in a statement.
COAS entourage on the ill-fated aircraft are:
1. LT GEN I ATTAHIRU.
2. BRIG GEN MI ABDULKADIR.
3. BRIG GEN OLAYINKA.
4. BRIG GEN KULIYA.
5. MAJ LA HAYAT.
6. MAJ HAMZA.
7. SGT UMAR.
CREW
8. FLT LT TO ASANIYI.
9. FLT LT AA OLUFADE.
10. SGT ADESINA.
11. ACM OYEDEPO.
Born on August 10, 1966, Attahiru hailed from Kaduna North Local Government Area of Kaduna State. He was a member of the Regular Course 35 of the Nigerian Defence Academy.
Before his appointment as the Chief of Army Staff, he was the General Officer Commanding 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu.
He was also a former Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole in the North-East.
Meanwhile, the NAF plane crash in Kaduna occurred barely seven weeks after a NAF Alpha jet went missing on March 31.
