Lagos, 28 May, 2021 / 7:15 pm (ACI Africa).
Christian leaders in Nigeria are mourning the country’s Chief of Army Staff and ten other military officers who died in a plane crash last Friday, May 21, saying the deceased security officials sacrificed their lives for the safety of the West African nation.
The Nigeria Air Force plane crash that happened near Kaduna International Airport was “due to inclement weather”, the leadership of the Army said in a May 22 Facebook post.
In a statement issued Sunday, May 23, Church leaders under their common forum of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) say the military officers “laid down their lives in order to keep our nation safe and secure from the aggression of terrorists, bandits and other criminal elements in our nation.”
“While our hearts are filled with sorrow for the supreme price they paid, we acknowledge with a sense of gratitude to them, their selfless services to all of us in the nation,” CAN officials who include representatives from the Catholic Church in the West African country say.
On board the military King Air 350 plane that crashed during an official trip to Kaduna State was Ibrahim Attahiru who was appointed in January by President Muhammadu Buhari to command the country’s Army as part of the restructuring of the military command amid surging violence in the country.