On Wednesday, March 31, NAF 475, an alpha jet belonging to the Nigerian Air Force was declared missing after it went out of radar with two crew members in Borno State. Two days later, a Boko Haram faction loyal to Abubakar Shekau released a video claiming it shot down the jet.

The video showed the wreck of a plane bearing ‘NAF 475’ and what looks like a corpse in military fatigue. A masked fighter who identified the wreck as the ‘jet fighter of the Nigerian Air Force 475’ described the death of the pilot as an act of God in defence of his servants to whom he was sent to attack.

“This is what God did to him,” he said. “He fell from the sky, and if you do not repent, this will be your reward.”

Reacting to the video, which travelled wide on the social media, Edward Gabkwet, NAF’s spokesperson, released a statement admitting that the jet may have crashed. However, he called Boko Haram’s video a false propaganda and advised Nigerians to await the result of an investigation into the cause of the crash.

“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 said.

“Consequently, Nigerians are please advised to ignore the contents of the videos making the rounds until all investigations as to how the aircraft crashed are completed.”

In the heat of the controversy, FIJ published an analysis suggesting that the crash may have been caused by inadequate maintenance of the fighter jets in NAF’s fleet, giving the pervasive corruption evident in numerous public institutions in the country.

While citizens awaited the result of NAF’s investigation, another military jet crashed near Kaduna Airport on Friday, May 21, killing Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru, the Chief of Army Staff, and 10 other military officers.

Today makes it two months after the first incident which had on boad Flight Lieutenant John Abolarinwa and Flight Lieutenant Ebiakpo Chapele. While Chapele was confirmed dead by THISDAY after his body was found intact, Abolarinwa’s was not seen. However, till date, NAF is yet to feed Nigerians with the result of its investigations. It hasn’t even officially confirmed the location of the crash, reported to be Borno, much less confirm the death or survival of the two officers on board.

Similarly, the Air Force has not publicised its findings on the NAF Beechcraft King Air 350i Surveillance Aircraft crash of February, which happened in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.