The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has dispelled reports that its C-130 transport aircraft was grounded by authorities in Burkina Faso, saying instead that the plane made a precautionary landing after a technical issue.<\/p>\n
According to a statement by the NAF\u2019s Director of Public Relations, Ehimen Ejodame, the aircraft was on a ferry mission to Portugal on 8 December 2025 when, shortly after take-off from Lagos, the crew detected a technical concern. The plane was diverted to the nearest suitable airfield \u2014 in this case, Bobo\u2011Dioulasso Airport in Burkina Faso \u2014 in line with standard safety procedures and international aviation protocols.<\/p>\n
Ejodame said all crew and personnel on board are safe and have received \u201ccordial treatment\u201d from Burkinabe authorities. He added that plans are underway to resume the mission as scheduled once the technical issue is resolved.<\/p>\n
The NAF expressed gratitude for the support received during the incident and reiterated its commitment to operational professionalism, safety standards, and the welfare of its personnel as it continues to fulfill its constitutional duties.<\/p>\n
Background: Conflicting Claims from Burkinabe Authorities<\/p>\n
The landing had initially triggered a dispute after Confederation of Sahel States (AES), representing Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, claimed the aircraft violated Sahel airspace without authorisation and was subsequently forced to land \u2014 with its crew detained.<\/p>\n
The AES statement reportedly added that the aircraft had \u201cno authorisation to fly over Burkinabe territory.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the NAF\u2019s response challenges those reports \u2014 insisting the landing was precautionary, not a breach of protocol \u2014 and says no aircraft grounding or detainment took place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has dispelled reports that its C-130 transport aircraft was grounded by authorities in Burkina Faso, saying instead that the plane made a precautionary landing after a technical issue. According to a statement by the NAF\u2019s Director of Public Relations, Ehimen Ejodame, the aircraft was on a ferry mission to Portugal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":96485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,5787],"tags":[41,5523,6528,7643],"class_list":["post-96488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-world","tag-air-force","tag-burkina-faso","tag-mission","tag-portugal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/96485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}