The military has ruled out sabotage in the disappearance at the weekend of an Air Force fighter jet on a mission in the Northeast, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Adesola Amosu, said yesterday.
The military chief spoke with State House reporters after a meeting with Vice President Namadi Sambo at the Presidential Villa. He said the search for the aircraft was on.
According to him, the Armed Forces will soon be able to provide credible information on the plane’s location and on the pilots, adding that Nigeria is in full control of its airspace.
The Alpha jet marked NAF 466, with two pilots aboard, left Yola at about 10.45am on September 12 on a routine operational mission and was expected back by noon. It had since not returned.
On the possibility of sabotage, Air Marshall Amosu said: “No sabotage. The plane moved a short distance of just from Maiduguri to Yola. We are in full control of the air space. But don’t forget that when you lose radio signal, it becomes very challenging.
“There are so many possibilities but we are working on it.”
He went on: “One of our Alpha Jets went on routine operation in the North East and they lost contact with the control towers and that made us to immediately initiate a search. The weather has not been helpful as we have deployed all our surveillance capability. The citizens have been very, very helpful and we have got good information from them.
“But you know, in the aviation sector, we have some specific information that we ought to have to make the search easy. But the information we are getting from the citizens are good but not sufficient enough for us to define the area of search.
“We have an idea of where the aircraft could be. Do not forget that it is the open Sahel. Some people may think it is easy but in the open Sahel sometimes it is even very challenging. Human beings standing may look like trees and again the area we are talking about we have operations going on there and we have limitations as to how low we come to conduct the search.
“I am hopeful that before the end of the day or week we should be able to provide credible information as to the location of the aircraft and then the pilots.
“But one thing is clear whatever problem they had, an ejection was contemplated. It is, therefore, my hope that the pilots are still alive.”
Villagers in Lala State Development Area in Adamawa State said at the weekend that they saw a wreckage of an aircraft.
An administrative officer in Gombi Local Government Area of the state said villagers assisted a military search team in an effort to locate the plane after rumours that it crashed between Ngalga and Barda in Gabun ward of Adamawa State.
