Ondo Crash: FG Won’t Abandon Bereaved Families, says Shettima

Vice President Kashim Shettima on Tuesday assured the families of the 25 personnel killed in Monday’s Nigerian Air Force plane crash in Ondo State that the Federal Government’s responsibility to them “will not end with words of condolence.”

In a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Stanley Nkwocha, on Tuesday, Shettima said the nation owes an “enduring debt of gratitude” to the fallen personnel and would stand beside their families beyond the period of mourning.

He said, “Thirty-two of our compatriots left on a routine mission in the service of their country.

“They were colleagues, friends and comrades. But beyond the uniforms they wore and the ranks they held, they were husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters.”

The Vice President added, “Somewhere today, there is an empty chair. Somewhere, a family is still trying to comprehend the sudden silence left by someone who was expected to return home. These are the human faces of the supreme sacrifice we speak about as a nation.”

Shettima reasoned that a nation that asks its citizens to serve “must also remember those who pay the ultimate price in that service.”

He said the loss imposed a lasting obligation on the country to honour both the service of the deceased and the loved ones they left behind.

“We cannot ask the bereaved to be strong today. Grief does not obey instructions.

“We can only assure them that Nigeria remembers, Nigeria mourns with them, and Nigeria will stand beside them beyond these days of mourning,” noted VP Shettima.

He extended his condolences to officers, airmen and airwomen of the Nigerian Air Force, saying the tragedy had taken from the service members of “a professional family bound together by duty and sacrifice.”

“To the men and women of the Nigerian Air Force, we know that this loss is yours in a particularly personal way.

“Your fallen colleagues have paid the supreme price. A grateful nation honours their courage, their service and the families who shared them with Nigeria,” he said.

The Vice President prayed for the repose of the souls of the deceased, and for comfort and strength for their families, colleagues and loved ones.

The former lawmaker also reaffirmed President Bola Tinubu’s response to the tragedy.

Tinubu had declared three days of national mourning and ordered that flags be flown at half-mast nationwide. He also directed a thorough investigation into the circumstances of the crash.

The President described the incident as “a painful moment for our Armed Forces and for the entire nation,” and commended the rapid activation of search-and-rescue efforts by the Air Force, the Ondo State Government and first responders.

The aircraft, an ATR-42 with tail number NGR 931, crashed near a naval base in the Igbokoda area of Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State on Monday while on a routine flight from Benin, Edo State, to Lagos.

All 32 people on board, 25 passengers and seven crew members, were killed. As of this report, the Air Force had released the names of the fallen.