Boko Haram Lied On Alpha Jet – NAF, Experts

Doubts were at the weekend being raised to claims by the terrorist Boko Haram group that it shot down the Nigerian Air Force Alpha jet. The Air Force said Boko Haram lied.

The Nigerian Air Force and experts debunked the claim bringing calm to Nigerians that Boko Haram had not acquired surface to air capacity.

A Daily Trust report had noted that two Boko Haram fighters who spoke in English and Hausa languages described what happened to the aircraft as “another success from God.”

According to the Daily Trust report which also raised issues from experts that Boko Haram lied on the issue:

The video was released hours after the NAF announced the names of the two missing crew members in the ill-fated aircraft, which officials said crashed while on a mission in the North-East.

The jet, which was deployed against the sect in Borno State, lost contact with radar on Wednesday evening.

The two terrorists alluded that they took down the aircraft, but some experts have expressed doubt over the capacity of the sect to do what it claimed, given the distance of the jet in the sky.

“Anything can happen, but I think the jet had a technical problem mid-air and crashed.

“Bringing down an aircraft such as the one we saw will require serious precision and a ballistic missile; it was not a helicopter. But the fact that it went in flames mid-air showed that something happened,” Abubakar Ismail, a security expert, who also reviewed the video said.

Also, a top government security source said the video released by the Boko Haram was doctored for propaganda purposes.

“The first part of the video showing the sky is a re-enactment of a movie from the Arab-Israel War. When you look at it critically, the quality is not the same as the latter part of the video which showed a man on top of the wreckage of the NAF aircraft.

“What I can tell you is that the aircraft crashed but not from hostile fire. It was because of some technical issues,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Air Force in a statement made available to  GreenWhiteGreen GWG rubbished the claims of the terrorist group affirming that Boko Haram lied in its claims of shooting down the aircraft.

The attention of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has been drawn to some videos being circulated on Social Media, as well as media reports drawn therefrom, alleging that the NAF Alpha Jet aircraft, which was reported missing in Borno State on 31 March 2021 after losing radar contact, was shot down by terrorists. One of such videos, in particular, began with sporadic shooting by several terrorists, including underaged children on motorcycles and vehicles. It later skipped abruptly to a scene depicting an aircraft exploding mid-air, supposedly as a result of enemy action. Another part of the video showed a terrorist, who, while standing by the wreckage, claimed that they had shot down the NAF aircraft.

2. Although the video is still being thoroughly analysed, it is evident that most parts of the video were deliberately doctored to give the false impression that the aircraft was shot down. For instance, the video clip failed to show the correlation between the sporadic shooting, which even from casual observation was obviously aimed at ground targets, and the sudden mid-air aircraft explosion. In addition, it is almost impossible for an aircraft to have exploded mid-air, in the manner depicted in the video, and still have a good part of its fuselage, including its tail, intact. Indeed, an explosive impact of that nature would have scattered the debris of the aircraft across several miles.

3. It is obvious that the Boko Haram Sect, in its characteristic manner of employing false propaganda, is seeking to claim credit for what was obviously an air accident that could have been caused by several other reasons; particularly at a time when the capability of the group to inflict mayhem has been significantly degraded by the Armed Forces of Nigeria.

4. Consequently, Nigerians are please advised to ignore the contents of the videos making the rounds until all investigations as to how the aircraft crashed are completed. The NAF, on its part, remains resolute and will continue to work assiduously, in synergy with sister Services and other security agencies, to rid the North East of all terrorist elements.

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