Ondo Governor Dr Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa has confirmed that no living soul has been found after a Nigerian Air Force ATR-42 aircraft crashed in Igbokoda, headquarters of Ilaje LGA, on Monday, Peak Newspaper reports.
The governor, speaking on Channels Television, said there are no confirmed survivors yet—words that all but extinguish hope for families waiting on the coast.
The terrain is making rescue and recovery painfully difficult, and every hour without a survivor turns a crash into a grief story for an entire community.
The deeper concern is what this says about Nigeria’s military air safety. The ATR-42 is a workhorse transport plane, and losing one in a swamp near a naval base raises hard questions about fleet maintenance, weather, and operational risk.
For Ondo’s riverine communities, the crash is a frightening reminder that the skies above Nigeria are not as safe as they should be.
As investigations begin, the priority must be transparency—not just for the NAF, but for the families who deserve to know why their loved ones never came home. In a season of national security crises, this crash is another burden Nigeria cannot afford to ignore.
