By Paul Michael, Defence Editor, Abuja
Nigerian Army at the weekend announced that troops of Operation Desert Sanity on clearance patrol have uncovered the wreckage of crashed Alpha Jet aircraft, NAF 475 in Sambisa Forest, Borno State.
NAF 475 went off the radar with two crew members identified to be Flight Lieutenant John Abolarinwa and Flight Lieutenant Ebiakpo Chapele, on 31st March, 2021. The two officers have long been buried.
Boko Haram had, in a video that went viral on social media claimed it shot down the aeroplane two days after the Air Force fighter jet went missing in the country’s northeast, The Trumpet gathered.
The video by Boko Haram showed the wreckage of a plane burning on the ground, with the charred fuselage bearing “NAF 475”. A masked fighter stood atop the wreckage and identified the plane as “jet fighter of the Nigerian Air Force 475”, the footage revealed. Later, a mangled corpse was shown in military fatigues.
“As you can see, this is the pilot of your aircraft, whom you sent to harm the servant of god,” the fighter said. “This is what god did to him. He fell from the sky, and if you do not repent this will be your reward,” he added.
However, the Director of Public Relations and Information of Nigerian Air Force, Edward Gabkwet, in a statement denied that aircraft was shot down by boko haram.
He claimed that most parts of the video were deliberately doctored to give the false impression that the aircraft was shot down.
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“For instance, the video clip failed to show the correlation between the sporadic shooting, which even from casual observation was obviously aimed at ground targets, and the sudden mid-air aircraft explosion.
“In addition, it is almost impossible for an aircraft to have exploded mid-air, in the manner depicted in the video, and still have a good part of its fuselage, including its tail, intact. Indeed, an explosive impact of that nature would have scattered the debris of the aircraft across several miles.
“It is obvious that the Boko Haram Sect, in its characteristic manner of employing false propaganda, is seeking to claim credit for what was obviously an air accident that could have been caused by several other reasons, particularly at a time when the capability of the group to inflict mayhem has been significantly degraded by the Armed Forces of Nigeria,” he stated.
Six months later, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Amao, at a virtual interaction with selected editors added that the Air Force was working with its foreign partners to locate the aircraft.
Amao said, “The combat search and rescue for the aircraft brought down in the NorthEast is still ongoing. It will also interest you to know that we are working with our foreign partners.”
One year after, the Army has said the remains of NAF 475 has been found by troops on clearance patrol at Sambisa Forest.
“Troops of Operation Desert Sanity on clearance patrol in Sambisa Forest, Borno State, have uncovered the wreckage of crashed Alpha Jet aircraft (NAF475) that went off the radar with 2 crew members on 31 March 2021. Further exploitation ongoing,” the army wrote.
