Former General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maj. Gen Danjuma Ali-Keffi (rtd), has alleged that the crash that killed former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, was linked to terrorist sponsors.
Based on the allegations, he has called on President Bola Tinubu to probe the air crash.
TheFact Daily recalls that the late Attahiru, along with ten other military officers, died in a NAF plane crash on the evening of Friday, May 21, 2021, near the Kaduna airport, while on an official trip. The NAF had attributed the crash to bad weather.
Ali-Keffi lamented that no less a person than the chief of army staff and 11 senior officers died in a “suspicious” plane crash and the matter was swept under the carpet, as the full report of the crash investigation was not made known.
He said, Attahiru devised the strategy to end terrorism in the North, part of which was the infiltration of terror groups and the instigation of crisis among terror leaders, which culminated in the elimination of Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, by a rival terror group, Islamic State for West African Province (ISWAP).
Part of the strategy was to also cut off the oxygen of terrorism, including funding and logistics, and to take down terror financiers, Ali-Keffi stated.
Ali-Keffi, who had been billed to receive the late army chief, as GOC 1 Division in Kaduna, pointed to the sudden change of time for Attahiru’s trip to Kaduna, the change of aircraft, change of airport of landing, from the military airstrip to the Kaduna International Airport, his landing in a turbulent, stormy weather, and the ear-shattering explosion that occurred before the crash.
He also pointed to the fact that there was no crater or impact on the crash area, noting that the bodies of the passengers were flung out of the aircraft and burnt beyond recognition long before the aircraft came down, a strong indication that there was an “explosion”.
