BY SEGUN ADEBAYO – The Nigerian Senate has postponed indefinitely its two-day National Security Summit scheduled for Monday, 12th, and Tuesday, 13th, October, 2026, following the tragic crash of a Nigerian Air Force ATR-42 aircraft in Igbokoda, headquarters of Ilaje Local Government Area, Ondo State.
Monday’s horror plane crash claimed the lives of 32 persons, including 20 officers, five crew members and seven other individuals who were on board the ill-fated flight.
A statement on Tuesday by the Leader of the Senate, Opeyemi Bamidele, who also doubles as the Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee on the National Security Summit, said the Senate had already finalized blueprints to hold the highly anticipated summit after the successful completion of nationwide zonal public hearings.
According to Senator Bamidele, the unfortunate incident suddenly necessitated the postponement of the national security summit, adding that, “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu consequently declared three days of national mourning in honour of 25 officers and seven crew members of the Nigeria Air Force and directed that the national flags be flown at half-mast nationwide”.
The lawmaker further said: “With the declaration of national mourning, the Senate resolved that the national security summit should be deferred till further notice in honour of the victims of the crash.”
The Senate also extended its heartfelt condolences “to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR; the Nigerian Armed Forces, particularly the Nigerian Air Force; and the families of the gallant officers and crew members who paid the supreme price in active service to the fatherland.”
It added that a new date for the summit would be communicated in due course and appealed to all the stakeholders “to take note of the national disaster and bear with the Senate during this period of national mourning.”
The plane, which crashed near a naval base is the ATR-42, a twin-engine turboprop that can carry between 30 and 50 passengers. A video circulating on social media showed a small crowd gathered near a river while rescuers searched the area by boat.
Meanwhile, a crucial timeline of the crash has emerged through harrowing eyewitness accounts of Dayo Akinte, a 39-year-old firewood hawker, who said the catastrophe announced itself with a roar that sounded like thunder.
Though she claimed being about a kilometer away from the impact zone, Akinte said that the sheer force of the sound made it clear that something had gone terribly wrong around the usually quiet community.
Speaking to AFP, Akinte recalled the deafening noise that disrupted her daily routine, providing a vital eyewitness anchor to the timeline of the ill-fated aircraft dropped from the sky.
