by James Sambo
According to Russia, the plane that was seized at the Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, belongs to France.
The Antonov Cargo Aircraft, carrying arms and ammunition, helicopters and 2 SUV’s were intercepted by security personnel on Saturday, December 6, at the airport in Kano.
The Russian Embassy has now revealed via its Twitter handle that the plane is the property of the French peace-keeping mission in Chad, explaining that the seized aircraft had been chartered to transport the military equipment and that the crew members were not Russians.
The embassy, in the series of Tweets on Sunday, December 7, also denied that the plane was Russian, while adding that it would take all measures to ensure the departure of the plane with its military cargo.
The explanatory tweets were in Russian but were translated to English. It read, “Military equipment on board aircraft in Kano en route from the Central African Republic in Chad, allegedly owned by the French peacekeeping mission.”
“The plane was chartered by the French peacekeeping mission in Chad and transporting its property. The Embassy is taking all measures to ensure the departure of the plane with the French military equipment on board.”
However, a senior security source has disclosed that the Federal Government’s investigation into the plane would not be affected by the disclosure of the Russian government.
The source said that the military would ensure that the investigation into the impounded plane, its cargo and crew, was thoroughly carried out because of the diplomatic implications of the issue.
The source said, “We must ascertain where the plane took off from, its destination, its crew, why it landed in Nigeria, what it was carrying and why it was carrying what it was carrying. All these are things we need to know before we come out with a final statement to give to Nigerians on this sensitive issue.”
“There must be a holistic investigation into the issue because it has diplomatic implications just like our incident in South Africa so we have to be careful in the investigation.”
Meanwhile, the Defence authorities have released a statement on Sunday, saying that Nigerians would be briefed after the conclusion of the investigation into the issue.
The Deputy Director, Defence Information, Group Captain W.W. Maigida, said that investigation into the aircraft had already commenced.
He said: “An Antonov Cargo Aircraft carrying some military hardware was arrested at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport in the early hours of Saturday, December 6, 2014. Investigation is ongoing to determine the content and origin of the aircraft. Further details would be made as soon as the investigation is completed.”
All should know that Ukraine, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Moldova etc are all former countries that together with Russia, also use these types of Soviet Aircraft.
Antonov is an aircraft manufacturer, their products are bought by many other countries. So if something happens to an Emirates Airbus, will we say “French” plane? Or something happens to a Arik Air Boeing aircraft: will we say “American” plane?
We need to know that just like you and I drive Japanese Cars: it doesn’t mean they are “Japanese”.
For example: do you know Nigeria has been buying combat helicopters from Ukraine? When our Helicopters crashed: did we say: “Ukrainian” choppers crashed? Even our “Air Force One” [GEJ’s jet: is manufactured in the USA: do we say it is “American”?
And this is a chartered flight: it could have been ANYONE that chartered the aircraft! Shey Oritsejafor was cleared of chartering out his plane to “official arms dealers”?