The Nigerian Army has announced that the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Late Lt Gen Ibrahim Attahiru, and six other senior officers who lost their lives in a plane crash in Kaduna on Friday, will be buried today, Saturday, 22 May 21.
A statement by the Director, Army Public Relations, Brig General Mohammed Yerima said, the burial proceedings “will commence at the National Mosque and National Christian Centre, Abuja by 1000hrs
“Consequently, the internment for the late COAS and six other senior officers will take place at the National Military Cemetery, Abuja today by 1300hrs (1pm).”
Minister of Defence, Maj Gen Bashir Salihi Magashi, described as a rude shock and unfortunate, the death in a plane crash of the 21st Chief of Army Staff Lt General Ibrahim Attahiru barely four months in the saddle.
General Magashi in a condolence message said the crash that claimed the lives of the Chief of Army Staff and other senior officers and his aides was a huge national disaster.
While condoling the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, President Muhammadu Buhari, the military and the Nigerian Army in particular as well as his immediate family and Nigeria in general he described late General Attahiru as a gallant, dogged, disciplined and dedicated officer who died in the line of duty to his fatherland.
He recalled his unblemished track records of service to the nation as Director Army Public Relations,(DAPR), Theatre Commander Operation Lafiya Dole and as General Officer Commanding, GOC which culminated in his elevation to the three-star status as Chief of Army Staff (COAS) in January this year.
He said his emergence as Army boss at such a critical time in the nation’s efforts at surmounting its internal security challenges was symbolically strategic but impactfully shortlived in the anal of the service.
Magashi noted that although the late General died when his service was needed most, his short but eventful tenure as the Chief of Army Staff and over three decades of dedicated, selfless and patriotic service would never be forgotten.
He prayed Almighty Allah to forgive Late Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru and to grant him Alijannat Firidaus.