BY Haleem Olatunji
On Saturday, a video began to circulate on social media indicating an “eyewitness” report of the air crash that led to the death of Ibrahim Attahiru, chief of army staff (COAS).
The air crash which killed the army chief and 10 other officers, occurred on Friday evening near the Kaduna international airport.
Attahiru was on his way to Kaduna to attend a passing-out parade for some army recruits.
In the trending video, a man is seen explaining something related to an aircraft crash incident.
The video, shared via multiple accounts on Facebook, has gathered over 300 views and 50 shares.
The unidentified man, who spoke at a crash site as seen in the video, narrates how two persons escaped from a crash incident.
In the video, the man doesn’t mention anything related to the army chief or the location of the crash site.
“The thing happened. They were up (in the air), as it happened, the airplane tumbled and they used parachute, the two of them, while the plane turned its direction downwards. As it (the aircraft) was heading downwards, people were saying it was rehearsal but I told them that this is already beyond rehearsals. When it (the aircraft) fell, it blew up and resulted in fire. After that, those people landed somewhere but we don’t know the precise place,” the man narrated in pidgin.
Naira Diary, a Facebook account user who shared the video, described the man as “an eyewitness” who spoke on the Nigerian army plane crash that killed Attahiru.
A screenshot from the old video
Obiwest Utchaychukwu, a Facebook user, also described it as an eyewitness account of Friday’s incident in Kaduna.
“An eyewitness report of the plane crash that killed Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru and others. I don’t think it’s ordinary. Fear this government,” he wrote as a caption for the video.
David Chibuoso Dennis, another user, shared the video with a caption indicating that Attahiru’s death was planned.
IS THE VIDEO CONNECTED TO THE DEATH OF ATTAHIRU AND 10 OTHERS? NO!
While the video indicates that the man spoke at a crash site, checks by TheCable revealed that the crash did not occur in Kaduna.
TheCable found that the video was shared in 2018 following the crash of two NAF aircraft during aerial display rehearsals in preparation for the 58th Independence Day anniversary celebrations.
The 30-second clip was extracted from a another video that runs for six minutes and twenty-five seconds shared on YouTube by Voice TV Nigeria in 2018.
The plane crash incident occured in Katampe area of Abuja on September 28, 2018.
Ibikunle Daramola, NAF’s director of public relations and information at the time, had confirmed the incident in a tweet.
“I wish to confirm an air incident involving 2 Nigerian Air Force aircraft taking part in the rehearsals for the 58th Independence Day Celebrations. Details will be communicated later,” he wrote.
In a follow-up brief, Daramola confirmed the death of one of the two pilots who had ejected from one of the crashed jets.
“It is with a heavy heart that I regretfully announce that one of the pilots who successfully ejected from one of the F-7Ni aircraft that crashed earlier today has passed on. May his soul RIP. Additional details on the incident will be communicated later,” he wrote.
VERDICT: The video misrepresents the Kaduna crash which led to the death of Attahiru and 10 others. It is from a 2018 crash site where two aircraft crashed, but led to the death of one person.
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