Nigeria’s Acting Inspector-General of Police, Alkali Baba, has condoled with the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian Armed Forces, families of the late Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Ibrahim Attahiru, and the other military officers who died in the unfortunate air crash while on national assignment in Kaduna state.
In a statement signed by the Force Public Relations Officer, CP Frank Mba, the late COAS died while on a patriotic mission to advance the course of peace and save the lives of others.
In his tribute to the late COAS, the IGP described him as “an exceptional military strategist, a friend of inestimable value, and an excellent partner in the ongoing fight against insurgency and other security challenges in the country”.
IGP Baba noted that the late COAS represented the best in the military tradition of courage, forthrightness, discipline, professional excellence, passion for national service, and strategic leadership.
The Police Chief also acknowledged that the death of Lieutenant-General Attahiru is even more painful given the equally highly-loyal, promising and professionally excellent officers, whose lights were eternally dimmed along with him in the ill-fated flight.
This is in addition to the reality that he left a nation he so much loved at a time his experience and service are most critical to our nation’s stability.
The Acting IGP urged the members of the Nigerian Armed Forces, particularly the officers and men of the Nigerian Army and Nigerian Air Force not to allow the tragic incident to dampen their morale, but to remain focused in the collective quests at restoring law and order in the country, as that will be the most befitting honour and memorial we can collectively give to the late General and the other fallen heroes.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
