Fresh details have emerged about the final hours of the Nigerian Air Force ATR-42 aircraft marked NAF 931, which crashed in the Obe-Rebby swamp in Igbokoda, Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State on Monday.
According to top sources who spoke to SaharaReporters, the ATR-42 aircraft was actually en route to Lagos from Abuja on Sunday, October 5, 2026, with some passengers who were to be dropped in Benin City, capital of Edo State.
It was gathered that after landing in Benin to disembark the Benin-bound passengers, the aircraft developed an engine fault on the same day and could not proceed to Lagos.
Multiple sources, including one of the Benin-bound passengers, told SaharaReporters that the official narrative that the aircraft was on a routine Benin-to-Lagos flight on Monday was incomplete.
According to the sources, the aircraft actually started its journey from Abuja on Sunday, heading to Lagos, but with passengers who were to be dropped in Benin City.
“It was supposed to go to Lagos from Abuja on Sunday, but it had some passengers going to Benin. They needed to drop them in Benin first. However, it developed an engine fault when they got to Benin and they could not go immediately to Lagos,” a source familiar with the movement told SaharaReporters.
“The aircraft was then worked upon by technicians in Benin overnight. So the aircraft was grounded overnight in Benin City and after engineers claimed to have rectified the fault, it took off on Monday morning for Lagos before it crashed minutes after takeoff in Ondo,” the source added.
Another source who identified himself as a relative of one of the victims added, “We were to receive him on Sunday. He, however told us their aircraft developed a fault in Benin City and needed to be worked on. That we should be expecting him whenever they certified it okay, but he wasn’t sure it would be that Sunday. He actually had nothing to do in Benin. It was an Abuja-to-Lagos flight that had to drop passengers in Benin.”
“Why is the NAF claiming the aircraft was on a routine mission from Benin to Lagos when the incident happened? The affected passengers boarded the aircraft in Abuja and were going to Lagos. It wasn’t on any routine mission. They made it look like the aircraft was on its official role of surveillance, but not at all. This aircraft and NAF 930 were known for transporting VIPs all around Nigeria.”
SaharaReporters learnt that the crashed aircraft’s official roles included maritime surveillance of Nigeria’s Exclusive Economic Zone, anti-piracy, anti-oil bunkering, anti-smuggling, pollution control, search and rescue, overland Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance and limited transport duties.
SaharaReporters on Tuesday reached out to Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, NAF spokesperson, but was directed to a Flight Lieutenant said to be at the headquarters for any comment on the incident.
However, the newspaper reached out to the officer again for confirmation on Wednesday and he directed the reporter back to the public relations office.
Another military source also said, “They worked on the aircraft throughout Sunday. The technicians in Benin said they had fixed it. That was why it spent the night in Benin and left on Monday morning for Lagos. Unfortunately, it crashed a few minutes after takeoff.”
The aircraft lost contact with air traffic controllers at about 9:13 a.m. on Monday, a few minutes after departing Benin Airport, before crashing near the Naval Base in Igbokoda.
Rescue operations are still ongoing at the crash site in the Obe-Rebby swamp as of Wednesday morning, more than 48 hours after the incident. As of the time of filing this report, no bodies of the victims have been recovered from the swamp.
SaharaReporters had earlier exclusively reported the identity of the pilot flying the aircraft, hours before the military authorities officially released the manifest of passengers and crew. Checks by the newspaper showed that NAF 931 had a history of prolonged groundings for maintenance.
In September 2013, NAF 931 was spotted at Edinburgh Airport in Scotland for maintenance at the Air Contractors facility.
Its sister aircraft, NAF 930, was flown to the Rheinland Air Service (RAS) facility in Monchengladbach, Germany, in September 2019 for Periodic Depot Maintenance (PDM) after clocking 5,000 flight hours or 10 years of operation and returned in July 2020 after being delayed by COVID-19 restrictions.
NAF 931 was then flown to the same German facility in January 2022 for the same PDM.
It remained on the ground there for almost three years until late December 2024, when it returned to Nigeria, according to Military Africa.The Nigerian Air Force did not officially explain the reason for the prolonged stay.
Rheinland Air Service was one of only three companies worldwide certified for the repair and overhaul of ATR control elements such as landing flaps, and NAF engineers participated in the reactivation process in Germany.
Although the Nigerian Air Force did not disclose how much was spent on the maintenance, aviation industry estimates indicated that the 35-month stay of NAF 931 in Germany may have cost between $4.5 million and $7 million, more than double what was spent on its sister aircraft.
Industry data reviewed by SaharaReporters showed that a standard PDM for a commercial ATR-42 cost about $700,000 for four checks in a 14,500 flight-hour cycle, with landing gear overhaul alone costing $240,000 for the ATR-42-500 variant and rotable support costing about $25,000 per aircraft monthly.
However, NAF 931 was a military Maritime Patrol variant fitted with ATOS mission system, Gabbiano radar and EOST-45 sensor, which pushed the core PDM labour and certification cost at RAS to between $2 million and $3 million.
SaharaReporters gathered that beyond the core PDM, additional costs accrued due to the prolonged grounding.
Rotables and exchange fees calculated at $25,000 monthly amounted to about $875,000 for 35 months. Hangarage and parking fees estimated at €300 to €500 per day translated to between $350,000 and $580,000 over 1,065 days.
Preservation and de-preservation cycles required every 90 days for engines, propellers and fuel systems added an estimated $150,000 to $250,000, while parts obsolescence and sourcing, evidenced by the June 2022 photograph showing the aircraft with its right engine missing, was estimated to have cost between $500,000 and $1 million for PW127E engine parts and Hamilton Standard propeller components.
Ferry flight costs for the trip from Benin to Monchengladbach via Algeria and back, including fuel, overflight permits and crew allowances, added another $180,000 to $250,000.
In contrast, NAF 930 spent about 10 months in the same facility between September 2019 and July 2020 at an estimated $2 million to $2.5 million, indicating that NAF 931 incurred an additional $2.5 million to $4.5 million due to the delay alone.
Since its induction, NAF 931 had been operated by the 81 Air Maritime Group in Benin, Edo State and was routinely deployed with the 75 Strike Group in Yola for counter-insurgency operations under Operation Lafiya Dole.
It was powered by two Pratt & Whitney PW127E engines with Hamilton Standard 568F six-blade propellers. It had a maximum cruise speed of 280 KTAS (518 km/h), a range of about 1,500 nautical miles and an endurance of over eight hours.
