Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
African Action Congress presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore visited the site of the Nigerian Air Force ATR-42 aircraft crash in Igbokoda, Ondo State, on Friday and demanded an independent investigation into the disaster, arguing that the personnel responsible for the maintenance and procurement of the aircraft should not be the ones investigating what happened to it.
Sowore, who travelled from Abuja to Akure on Friday before proceeding by road to Igbokoda, shared a video of his visit on X on Saturday, accompanied by a post in which he said he had met and marched alongside members of affected communities and grassroots leaders. In the video, the activist criticised the handling of the wreckage and the victims' remains, insisting that all parts of the aircraft should be recovered and examined by experts to establish the cause of the crash. "Those who are responsible for maintenance, procurements should not be the ones investigating what happened. We should bring outsiders," Sowore said. He questioned how the crash site and wreckage had been handled, arguing that the process could undermine efforts to establish what happened. "That's not how to investigate accidents. How it is done all over the world is that every part of that aircraft must be retrieved and pinned back together by experts because if there had been a bomb blast, how would we know?" he said.
Sowore expressed anger over the loss of lives, saying the incident should not be treated as a routine occurrence. "Something went wrong, and it's fundamental. And we are just looking at this and saying, oh, they have visited. No, it's not a matter of the visitors. It's a matter of the passengers. People died," he said. He noted that one of the victims had recently married, lamenting the loss of lives in the crash. His remarks reflected a broader concern about the condition of the aircraft before the crash, its maintenance history, the procurement process, and whether established aviation safety procedures were followed. During the visit, Sowore interacted with military personnel guarding the wreckage and sought to understand the measures being taken to secure the location and facilitate investigations.
The AAC presidential candidate was accompanied on the visit by prominent party chieftains, including former Ondo State governorship candidate Kunle Ajayi, and activists from the Take It Back Movement led by its National Coordinator, Juwon Sanyaolu. Following the inspection of the crash site, Sowore and members of his entourage departed by boat into the riverine creeks of Ondo State. The visit forms part of his ongoing scrutiny of military safety, government accountability and the management of Nigeria's security institutions as he pursues his presidential ambition.
The crash occurred on October 5, 2026, when the Nigerian Air Force ATR-42 aircraft, with registration number NAF 931, crashed into a heavily swampy area near the Naval Base in Igbokoda, located within the Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State. The aircraft was on a routine mission from Benin City, Edo State, to Lagos State when air traffic controllers lost all radio communication and radar tracking with it at 9:13 a.m. The plane plummeted into a dense, muddy mangrove swamp situated directly opposite the Naval Base in Igbokoda. The impact was severe enough to submerge the main body of the aircraft entirely underwater and deep beneath the mud. Early reports from the Ministry of Aviation initially estimated 32 passengers, but official releases from the Nigerian Air Force confirmed 25 fatalities, comprising 20 passengers and five crew members. There were no survivors.
The recovery operation has faced massive logistical hurdles. The crash site consists of thick mangroves, murky waters, and deep mud, which makes it nearly impossible to safely position heavy cranes or mechanical recovery equipment. Specialised swamp vehicles, floaters, and local divers have been deployed alongside dredging tools to hack away overgrown marsh grass and clear a safe waterway for transport boats. President Bola Tinubu declared three days of national mourning, during which flags across federal institutions were flown at half-mast. The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Aneke, has said the military would conduct a thorough investigation and ensure relevant evidence is secured, documented and examined before any conclusion is reached on the cause of the accident.
The demand for an independent probe has been complicated by the statutory limitations of the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau. The NSIB announced on Monday that it would not independently investigate the crash unless it received a formal invitation from the military, clarifying that because the accident involved a military aircraft, it falls outside its independent statutory investigative mandate under the NSIB Establishment Act of 2022. The Bureau said its Flight Safety Laboratory could be deployed to assist with the recovery and analysis of flight data and cockpit voice recordings should the Nigerian Air Force formally request its assistance. "This occurrence involves a military aircraft. In line with the NSIB Establishment Act, 2022, and with established international practice, the investigation of military aviation accidents rests with the military authority," the NSIB stated.
Sowore's visit to the crash site is part of a broader pattern of scrutiny he has applied to the handling of the disaster. In a statement on October 5, he expressed deep sadness over the crash and extended condolences to the families of those aboard and to personnel of the Nigerian Air Force. But he also raised serious questions about Nigeria's emergency preparedness and its capacity to respond rapidly and effectively to major disasters. "At a moment when every second matters, a country of more than 200 million people should have properly equipped, highly trained and rapidly deployable emergency-response teams capable of reaching difficult terrain with the equipment required for search, rescue and recovery," he said. He called for two separate investigations: one into the cause of the crash itself, and another focused entirely on the emergency response, including the time it took responders to arrive at the scene, the resources available to them, and whether lives could have been saved with a better prepared system. "A disaster is tragic. Being unprepared to respond to one makes the tragedy even more painful," he said.
The political context of the crash and Sowore's intervention is significant. The 2027 general elections are less than four months away, with the presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for January 16, and the governorship and state assembly elections for February 6. Security and the management of national disasters have emerged as central issues in the campaign, and the handling of the Ondo crash has become a test of the government's transparency and accountability. President Tinubu is seeking a second term on the All Progressives Congress platform, while former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress and former Anambra Governor Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress are among the major challengers. Sowore's decision to visit the crash site personally and to demand an independent investigation places him at the centre of a national conversation about military aviation safety, procurement integrity and the state's capacity to respond to emergencies. For the families of the 25 personnel who died, the call for an independent probe represents a demand for answers that the military's internal investigation may not provide. For the government, it is a reminder that public confidence in the handling of the tragedy will depend on whether the investigation is seen to be thorough, transparent and free from conflicts of interest. As Sowore put it, those responsible for maintenance and procurement should not be the ones investigating what happened. The coming weeks will determine whether his call for an independent probe is heeded or whether the military's internal process proceeds without external scrutiny.
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