HeadlineLate Army Chief, 10 Others Buried In Abuja

Late Army Chief, 10 Others Buried In Abuja

BEVERLY HILLS, May 22, (THEWILL) – The remains of the late Chief of Army Staff (CoAS), Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru, and 10 other officers have been buried.

They were intered on Saturday afternoon at the National Military Cemetery, Abuja.

THEWILL reports that the late COAS along with 10 others, died in the Beechcraft 350 aircraft that crashed at the Kaduna International Airport on Friday.

The bodies, upon arrival at Abuja, were received at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, at about 11:50 a.m.

They were thereafter, moved to the National Mosque and the Nigerian Air Force Protestant Church venues for funeral prayers amidst tight security.

While the remains of the late Army Chief and five others were taken to the National Mosque, five others were taken to the Nigeria Air Force Protestant Church for a funeral.

Those taken to the mosque with Attahiru were his Chief of Staff, Brig.-Gen. Idris Abdulkadir, Chief of Military Intelligence, Brig.-Gen. Abdulrahman Kuliya and Aide De Camp to the COAS, Maj. L.A Hayat.

Others were: The Finance Officer, Maj. A. Hamza, and the Orderly to the COAS, Sgt. Saidu Umar.

While the remains of the Provost Marshal (Army), Brig.-Gen. O.L Olayinka, and crew members, Flt.-Lt. T.O Osaniyi, Flt.-Lt. A.A Olufade, Sgt. Adesina and ACM Oyedepo were taken to the church.

Born August 10, 1966, in Kaduna, Lt. Gen Attahiru was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari as COAS in January 2021.

Before his appointment, the late army major, was the General Officer Commanding 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu.

He was at a time the Theatre Commander of the Operation Lafiya Dole until 2017 when he was redeployed.

Attahiru barely spent four months in his new post before his tragic death on Friday.

Attahiru has become the country’s third military Chief of Staff to die on duty in the last 52 years.

On the night of August 6, 1967, the Federal Government of Nigeria announced that the 30-year-old Nigerian Army Chief of Staff, Colonel Joseph Akahan, had been killed in a helicopter crash in Makurdi, according to an article by The New York Times dated August 7, 1967.

Two years after, tragedy struck again when on 15 October 1969 Colonel Shittu Akanji Alao died in an air crash at Uzebba, about 89 kilometres in northwest Benin.

Alao had been appointed the Chief of Air Staff of Nigeria’s Air Force in August 1967 and was the second Nigerian to hold the office.

Again, Nigeria has recorded three air crashes involving Nigerian Air Force jets in the last three months.

On Friday, 21st March, 202 an air crash involving a Nigerian Air Force aircraft occurred near the Kaduna International Airport, claiming the lives of Attahiru and 10 others.

On Sunday, February 21, 2021, seven NAF officers died on board a Beechcraft King Air B350i aircraft when the jet crashed in Abuja.

The jet, en route Minna in Niger State, crashed close to the runway of the Abuja airport after reporting engine failure.

Also, on Wednesday, March 31, 2021, NAF spokesman, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, said an Alpha-Jet aircraft involved in the anti-terror war against Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province lost radar contact in Borno State.

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