In Memory of Squadron Leader Ahamefule Man-Ugwueje and the Crew of NAF 931

On Monday, 5 October 2026, a Nigerian Air Force ATR-42 (NAF 931) crashed into a swamp near the naval base in Igbokoda, Ondo State, while on a routine flight from Benin City to Lagos. All 25 people on board — five crew members and twenty passengers — lost their lives.

Among them was Squadron Leader Ahamefule Man-Ugwueje (also known as Aham or AP Man-Ugwueje), one of the co-pilots. Just sixteen days earlier, on 19 September, he had married his colleague, Flight Lieutenant Damilola Adekunle, in an elaborate ceremony in Abuja. A young officer from a military family, he had only recently begun what should have been a long and promising life together with his new wife.

This Video shows him and other crew members just days or hours before the flight — walking around the aircraft, checking equipment, directing work on the engines and propellers. Ordinary moments of duty that now feel heartbreakingly final. In the footage, Man-Ugwueje moves with quiet authority, putting things in order the way professionals do every day.

The Nigerian Air Force has confirmed the full list of the fallen. The Chief of the Air Staff and President Bola Tinubu have expressed the nation’s grief. Three days of national mourning were declared. An investigation is underway.

Behind every uniform is a family, a spouse, children, parents, and friends whose lives are permanently altered. For the newly married couple, the future they planned together ended in an instant. For the other twenty-four souls on that aircraft, the same sudden silence fell.

May their service be remembered with honour.

May their families find strength and comfort.

And may we never take for granted the men and women who climb into these aircraft so that the rest of us can sleep a little safer.

Rest in peace, Squadron Leader Ahamefule Man-Ugwueje and all who perished with you.

You will not be forgotten.