General

Lawmakers Summon Chief of Air Staff over Helicopter Crash

The House of Representatives has summoned the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar to brief it on the immediate and remote causes of the crash that occurred last week in Enugu.

This was disclosed in a statement by the Chairman, House Committee on Air Force, Hon. Shehu Koko.

He described the incident as ill-fated and unfortunate The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) had tweeted Thursday that a training helicopter belonging to the NAF crashed in Enugu State after returning from a routine exercise. In its tweet, the force claimed that the cause of the incident was still unknown, though no casualty was recorded.

The tweet read, “The Helicopter has crashed on landing in Enugu after a routine flight today. Fortunately, there were no fatalities or injuries to any crewmember or persons on the ground.”

In his statement yesterday, Koko assured the NAF that the lower chamber would investigate the remote cause of the ugly incident to avoid future reoccurrence. Koko said the committee was disturbed that such incident occurred at a time when the NAF had assured the parliament and the nation that the force was fully prepared to take on insecurity head-on and bring an end to it in collaboration with other sister agencies.

“We, therefore, invite the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar to brief the committee on the immediate and remote causes of the crash.

“The date for the interface shall be communicated through the Secretariat in due course,” the statement said. This Day

Pix: Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar