Life And Death of The 21st COAS And Questions That Beg for Answers On The Security Situation in Nigeria
Written by Adeola Adekunle
News Commentary
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS) is the highest ranking military officer of the Nigerian Army. The position is often occupied by the most senior commissioned officer appointed by the President of Nigeria. The 21st COAS, Attahiru Ibrahim, who occupied the seat in January 2021, died in a military plane crash near Kaduna International Airport, Kaduna State with 10 others last Friday.
The death of the military officers hit and shocked the whole nation, as Ibrahim was appointed less than four months ago by President Muhammadu Buhari as part of a shakeup of the top military command to fight surging violence and a more than decade-long insurgency.
Nigeria’s military has been battling the insurgency in the northeast since 2009, a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 and displaced around two million more.
Attahiru had once been in charge of leading the frontline offensive against Nigeria’s Boko Haram jihadist leader Abubakar Shekau in the northeast in 2017.
The Nigerian Air Force has however explained that the incident happened as the plane was landing at Kaduna International Airport.
The incident happened about three months after a Nigerian military plane also crashed some few meters to a runway in the capital Abuja, killing all seven people on board.
Though his reign as COAS was short, but Ibrahim was able to record remarkable progress in the fight against insecurity and insurgency in the northeast since he assumed office.
He was said to have reposition the Nigerian Army within a short time with various training for officers across the country helping them to face formidable and unprecedented attacks from non-state actors.
Attahiru Ibrahim was said to never failed to express concern over cases of kidnapping and abduction of students from schools as well as the deliberate targeting of military and security operatives across the country and vowed that the military would work in tandem with other security agencies to bring a lasting solution to the security challenges.
He was quoted to have said that the Nigerian Army under his leadership will remain proactive and jointly work with other security agencies to decisively deal with the challenges facing the nation.
Attahiru served as the Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, before he was removed from the position barely nine months after he was appointed in 2017. During his tenure as the Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, the Theatre recorded many successes against the insurgents following concerted efforts of troops in the newly-launched Operation DEEP PUNCH 2 and Operation RUWAN WUTA in Sambisa forest
Some of the operations he led resulted in the killing of two key Boko Haram commanders, Abdu Kawuri and Abubakar Benishek, at Alafa in the Bama Local Government Area of Borno State..
His redeployment followed the deadliest attacks by Boko Haram insurgents on Biu town in Borno where at least 18 people were killed and 52 others seriously injured.
Though some of the locals, who witnessed the crash, said that the troubled aircraft exploded and got burnt completely by the time it hit the ground while there were other claims on various platforms.
But a military source had maintained that The crew apparently lost control of the aircraft due to sudden change of weather accompanied with violent storm and lightning.
Nigerians have called for a thorough review of the military aviation sector following the death of top military personnel in crash to prevent such an ill fated occurrence in the future,while suggestions from some quarters said that the tragic air crash involving the Chief of Army Staff, Ibrahim Attahiru, and other military personnel on Friday at the Kaduna Airport may have been due to sabotage.
It has been reported that there has been a drop in air crashes in the civil aviation sector after a review was done during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime ,however It is becoming worrisome with the number of crashes being recorded in the military sector.
Many questions are already being asked about the death of the Nation’s security chief.
With the recovery of the black box,many Nigerians are hoping that something substantial would come out from the investigation on the cause of the crash,but will this bring back the COAS? Of course not!
How long will Nigeria continue to grapple with issues surrounding security and get it right? Where do we go from here? All of these remain silent questions begging for answers in the minds of many Nigerians.
