The NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Cdre Edward Gabkwet, stated this while reacting to a video circulating on social media platforms purportedly depicting the wreckage of the crashed MI-171 helicopter with bodies of victims at Chukuba Village in Shiroro local government area of Niger State.
A NAF helicopter had crashed on Monday during a casualty evacuation mission in Niger State.
The NAF spokesperson said it was not in the character of the Air Force to respond to terrorists’ propaganda, but for concerns expressed by well-meaning Nigerians on the need to address the propaganda becomes imperative.
He said, like all military organisations involved in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations, “incidences of fatalities, mishaps and crashes are sometimes inevitable.”
“With heightened levels of air operations, occasioned by an enhanced fleet, the likelihood of air mishaps and accidents at times become unavoidable and inevitable due to various reasons,” he said.
He recalled that the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar, stated this much when he hosted Governor Umaru Bago of Niger State on Tuesday.
Hasan had noted that the rate of aircraft accidents were directly proportional to the heightened level of air operations.
“While the NAF regrets such unfortunate incidents, especially as they involve the loss of lives of our colleagues, the Service will never shy away from unravelling the probable cause of the crash with a view to drawing lessons.
“For those aiding and abetting the propaganda tendencies of terrorists, deliberately or inadvertently, by spreading the videos of the alleged crash site with gory pictures of dead military personnel, the need to rethink the consequences of their actions on the morale of troops, families of deceased personnel as well as on Nigeria’s national security is imperative”.
He reiterated that the Armed Forces’ “resolve and determination to bring the current security situation in Niger State and indeed all troubled spots in the country remains unshaken.
“Infact, if anything, we are determined more than ever before, to take on the enemy frontally until they are brought to their knees.”
He, therefore, called on all Nigerians to continue to support the Armed Forces of Nigeria and other security agencies as they jointly confront the common enemies.
NAF expressed appreciation to the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for his message of condolence and words of encouragement.
