NIGERIA: The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has mourned the victims of Monday’s Nigerian Air Force aircraft crash in Igbokoda, Ondo State, while questioning the Federal Government’s funding of aircraft maintenance in the military.
The opposition party also raised concerns over what it described as the poor implementation of defence budgets, particularly the disparity between funds released for the maintenance of the Nigerian Air Force fleet and those released for the Presidential Air Fleet.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday and signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC condoled with the families of the victims of the crash.
The party described the incident as “tragic and unfortunate”, saying it had once again brought attention to what it called the inadequate funding and perennial neglect of military equipment.
“While we do not intend to prejudice ongoing investigations into the cause of this tragic crash, we believe that this sad moment also provides an opportunity to raise, yet again, questions about the non-implementation of the defence budget and the perennial neglect of military equipment,” the party said.
Citing official figures, the ADC said that as of December 2025, the Federal Government had released only N4.5 billion, representing about 13.98 per cent of the N34.71 billion budgeted for the maintenance of Nigerian Air Force aircraft.
The party contrasted this with the N20.74 billion allocated for the maintenance of the Presidential Air Fleet, saying N20.27 billion, or 97.76 per cent of the allocation, had been released within the same period.
According to the ADC, the figures meant that the Presidential Air Fleet received substantially more funding for maintenance than the Nigerian Air Force fleet.
“Put simply, while the fleet that serves a handful of people in power got almost every kobo it asked for, the fleet that serves and protects 200 million Nigerians was left with crumbs,” the party said.
The ADC stressed that the safety of the President was important but argued that equal attention should be given to the safety of military personnel operating aircraft in the defence of the country.
“The safety of the President matters. But what also matters is the safety of the pilots and airmen who put their lives on the line in defence of the country. Patriotism does not replace spare parts, and condolence messages do not take the place of accountability,” the party maintained.
The opposition party called for the investigation into the crash to go beyond determining the immediate cause of the accident to examining the maintenance history and funding of military aircraft.
It specifically demanded an audit of maintenance expenditure and budgetary releases for defence equipment, particularly the Nigerian Air Force fleet.
The ADC said such an investigation would help determine whether inadequate funding, delayed releases or other maintenance-related issues contributed to the tragedy.
The party urged the authorities to ensure that the investigation was transparent and that any shortcomings identified were addressed to prevent similar incidents in the future.
