Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, says no survivor has been recovered from Monday’s military aircraft crash in Igbokoda, Ilaje Local Government Area
The governor said only parts of the aircraft’s wings, identity cards and military uniforms have so far been recovered, while the main body of the aircraft remains submerged deep in the swamp.
Aiyedatiwa disclosed this on Monday night during an interview on a national television programme “Politics Today, Channels Television”
He said the aircraft, carrying 32 people comprising 25 passengers and seven crew members, was a surveillance aircraft travelling from Benin to Lagos when it lost radio communication at about 9:15 a.m.
According to the governor, information about the crash reached him around 10:30 a.m. through the Chairman of Ilaje Local Government, after residents reportedly heard a sound similar to an air tremor before the aircraft plunged into the swamp near the Naval Forward Operating Base in Igbokoda.
Aiyedatiwa said naval personnel, local emergency officials, Amotekun operatives and residents immediately moved into the creek with boats to search for survivors, but no living person was found.
He added that the crash site has been cordoned off, while hospitals in Igbokoda and Okitipupa have been placed on standby, with ambulances recently procured for the state’s 18 local government areas.
The governor said the Nigerian Air Force and the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau are investigating the crash, noting that recovery of the aircraft’s black box will be crucial in determining the exact cause of the accident.
On the recent elimination of suspected ISWAP coordinator, Abdussamad Ohida, in the Ondo forest, Governor Aiyedatiwa said the operation was carried out about five days ago following months of top-secret surveillance.
He said the operation involved the Department of State Services, Nigerian Army, British intelligence officers and Amotekun, with no casualty recorded among the security forces.
According to him, intelligence for the operation was gathered following the arrest of Ohida’s former superior by the DSS in 2023, as well as the tracking of another ISWAP leader previously eliminated by the agency.
Aiyedatiwa said the terrorists possessed sophisticated weapons, including General Purpose Machine Guns, and retaliated when security forces launched an initial attack.
He explained that the security forces had to withdraw, strengthen their firepower and intensify intelligence gathering and mapping before launching a fresh operation.
The governor said the United Kingdom provided intelligence and precision-targeting equipment, while Amotekun operatives contributed their knowledge of the terrain, particularly because many of them were recruited from among local hunters.
He said Ondo State’s vast forests, which share boundaries with Kogi, Edo, Ekiti and Oyo states, have become a corridor for criminals fleeing military operations in the Kogi and Kwara axis.
Aiyedatiwa said what started as farmer-herder clashes years ago had evolved into terrorism, linking the group to the December 31, 2025 attack on the Ipele Police Station and the 2022 Owo massacre.
Asked whether the group was planning to disrupt the 2027 general elections, the governor said its overall agenda was to kill, destroy and cause disruption in any form
