Armed terrorists loyal to Abubakar Abdallah, famously known as Dogo Gide, have claimed responsibility for a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) helicopter grounded yesterday at Chukuba village in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, WikkiTimes exclusively reports.
WikkiTimes had earlier reported that the Dogo Gide-led bandits faction took down the aircraft. A statement signed by Sani Yusuf Kokki, Convener, Concerned Shiroro Youths of Niger State, corroborated our report.
The youth leader said the Dogo Gide terror group “gunned down a Surveillance Jet hovering around the airspace of some Niger Communities…”
FACT-CHECK: Niger Govt Circulated Misleading Wreckage Image of Bombed Jet
But Edward Gabkwet, spokesman for Nigerian Air Force, claimed the “MI-171 Helicopter” crashed, adding “efforts are currently ongoing to rescue the crew and passengers on board the helicopter.”
According to him, the force had commenced “preliminary investigations” to determine the cause of the crash. The Niger State government touted the same storylines.
Mohammed Umaru Bago, Niger State governor, in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Bologi Ibrahim, sympathised with Air Force. The Niger State went ahead to share a misleading image of the bombed
For three days, the bandits operated unchallenged, in some parts of Niger State, targeting herders and rustling their cattle before the troops confronted them in a gun duel along Zungeru-Tegina highway where they had wanted for them. Both sides suffered casualties.
Although over 20 soldiers reportedly lost their lives, WikkiTimes authoritatively reported that 12 bodies of slain soldiers and six injured others were evacuated from Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Zungeru.
‘WITH AK-47, WE TOOK DOWN THIS PLANE…’
Armed with heavy arsenals, the terrorists in a two-minute, seventeen-second video, exclusively obtained by WikkiTimes, showed the bombed bodies of Nigerian soldiers alongside a wreckage of the MI-171 series helicopter code-named ‘NAF 582’.
The helicopter, WikkiTimes earlier reported, evacuated bodies of slain soldiers including the injured ones from the FMC in Zungeru.
However, we could not verify if it had deposited the bodies before it was taken down by the terrorists, but a HumAngle report revealed that the aircraft was on a mission to evacuate deceased soldiers, killed in a forest gunbattle when the terrorists shot it down.
The terrorists, in the video, said the helicopter was targeting their leader, Dogo Gide.
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“Glory be to God. God willing the video we are going to show you, here are the dead bodies of Nigerian soldiers who attacked us to kill us, by God willing, in order to eliminate Dogo Gide. But Dogo Gide, by God’s guidance is alive and will not die,” a terrorist spoke behind the camera as he filmed the fallen soldiers and the helicopter. “The soldiers are lying here many of them. Here are many even their helicopter.”
“Repent to God, we have no business with anyone except those who stood up to attack us. See by God’s will, this is Allah’s doing, with AK-47 we take down this plane. See them as many as they are,” he continued. “So repent and understand that it is not our will to kill anyone, our aim is for everyone to understand and fear Allah. The leaders sending these type of people that we are killing should repent and fear Allah. He is the sole owner of sovereignty and He decides everything.”
“Surely, He will get them, but we are not going to fall back despite hardship, aeroplane or anything. The Dogo Gide you want to kill is alive. See this AK-47 they have, it is the one we hold and everyone opened fire, and we exchanged fire with them fafau-fafau!!! Raqakam-raqakam, gam-gam-gam! And behold the plane was down.
“See it, so repent and fear Allah. That is it. May God be pleased with us and guide us. We are together with the righteous. So repent and fear Allah, as you can see this is Allah’s doing not our own,” he concluded.
Checks by WikkiTimes show that the helicopter, NAF 582, a Mi-171 series, arrived in Nigeria by Ilyushin Il-76 transport on December 2, 2021 and was introduced into the NAF’s inventory on December 24, at NAF Base Kaduna.
