Former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, has denied involvement in the 1992 C-130 military plane crash, which killed 159 officers, including nine foreigners.
The aircraft crashed into a swamp near Lagos, just three minutes after takeoff.
With the believe that the crash was orchestrated to eliminate potential coup plotters, the public accused the IBB government of responsibility in view of the number of military officers on board.
IBB made the denial in his personal memoir A Journey in Service he presented to the public on Thursday in Abuja.
“Mischief makers and rumour mongers were colouring the public perception of this accident. Some speculated that regime opponents in the armed forces had sabotaged the aircraft to vent their anger at the direction of the administration.
“A more wicked version of the rumour was that the administration had somehow plotted to assemble these officers in one consignment for elimination for fear that they might be planning a coup against the military administration’s leadership based on the failed Gideon Orkar coup that had taken place earlier,” Babangida wrote.
He said there was no such a thing, adding that an independent investigation established that technical faults and lapses in aircraft maintenance was caused the crash.
“It was, however, an indication of the level of decay to which our public perception and discourse had descended,” he added, lamenting how political opponents weaponised tragedies against his administration.
After the incident, Babangida said his government catered for the welfare and entitlements of the deceased officers’ families while taking measures to prevent a similar tragedy.
