Ondo air crash: Diri condoles with Tinubu, NAF, victims’ families

File photo: Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri.

Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has commiserated with President Bola Tinubu, the Nigerian Air Force and the families of the victims of the fatal air crash that claimed the lives of 25 military personnel on Monday, October 5, 2026.

Diri, in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Alabrah, also extended his condolences to the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Aneke, and expressed sadness over the tragedy.

Recall that a military aircraft crashed in Ondo on Monday and disappeared from radar shortly after take-off, according to a senior Air Traffic Controller familiar with the aircraft’s final journey.

The aircraft, with tail number NGR 931, was travelling from Benin City, the Edo State capital, to Lagos when air traffic controllers lost contact with it at about 9:13 am, before it crashed into a swamp in Igbokoda, the headquarters of Ilaje Local Government Area in Ondo State.

Expressing his condolences via a statement, on Tuesday, Diri stated, “On behalf of the Government and People of Bayelsa State, I extend our deepest condolences to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, the Nigerian Air Force and the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke, over Monday’s tragic air crash.

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“This sad incident, which resulted in the death of 32 gallant personnel of our military, particularly the Nigerian Air Force, leaves our nation in a moment of shared grief and pain.

“We stand in solidarity with our military, the families of the victims, and the entire nation as we pray that the Almighty God strengthen and comforts all the bereaved.”

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