Officer Dairo’s gallantry

FLIGHT Lieutenant Abayomi Dairo of the Nigerian Air Force came into national and global reckoning recently. Bandits in the northern borders of Zamfara and Kaduna states had shot down the Air Force jet which he piloted. He had just emerged from an interdiction raid on bandits terrorising the northwestern part of the country when his plane came under intense fire from the outlaws. Dairo, in a gallant show of professionalism, effectively ejected from the airplane. The details of the survival instincts he deployed which brought him to safety and helped him to avoid being captured by the bloodthirsty bandits are ennobling. NAF Spokesman, Edward Gabkwet, had earlier revealed that the jet “came under intense enemy fire which led to its crash in Zamfara State”. Dairo was later to give details regarding how he ejected from the airplane, found shelter, and outwitted the terrorists who were on his trail before he eventually rejoined his military comrades. His rescue was largely due to the intervention of the supernatural, not science.

Flanked on all sides by the menacing-looking bandits, the Air Force pilot said he kept praying and kept telling God to answer the prayers of Nigerians because he knew they were all praying for him. He said: “I love you all. And I thank God for bestowing his love on me and saving me from death several times within that period. God ordered my steps. The bandits (meanwhile they are ruthless like Boko Haram, I don’t know why we still call them bandits) were more interested in capturing me than shooting me  even at point-blank range. Eventually, they got neither.”

Since this testimony of a near-death experience went viral, the combat pilot has been commended for his gallantry while religious groups have celebrated the divine intervention in the rescue operation. However, the incident throws up some issues. One is that the rescue, even from his account, was not due to military armaments or abidance by the rules of war which fighting these terrorists demands. On the flip side, if anybody is unsure about the deadly war in the North-West, apart from the full-blown war with Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East, the Dairo experience should dispel such qualms. The sophistication displayed by the so-called bandits in bringing down helicopters shows that Nigeria is in a war situation with these bloodsucking savages.

Still, although Dairo lauded the efforts of “NAF platforms overhead” who “also helped to deter them a lot by making some of them to pin down while I kept running,” we wonder what efforts were made in constituting ground troops, and what they were busy doing while the jet was staving off and bombing the bandits. If ground troops had been strategically placed, the risks that Dairo faced, including of being hounded, captured or killed, which resulted in his “camouflaging all through the way,” would have been minimised. The question is, if there was a successful air bombardment as claimed by the NAF in the operation that nearly cost Flight-Lt. Dairo his life, why was there such enemy fire from the same people who were supposed to have been successfully dealt with? It is clear that if the NAF had followed the rules and procedures of aerial bombardments, it would not have put the lives of Officer Dairo and other fighters at risk like it did, leaving them at the mercy of the elements and kind villagers in the theatre of operation.

Except if efforts were merely being concentrated on strafing the terrorists, as opposed to facing them headlong, there was no reason why a full complement of fighters should not have been earmarked for the attack on the bandits. We dare say that a detachment of bandits which has gone so sophisticated as to amass weapons to take down jets is not a ragtag group, and deserves to be treated with all seriousness. This means that the Nigerian Air Force must up its ante against the terrorists. This is not just about acquiring sophisticated weapons and fighter jets, as the Nigerian government and the Air Force did recently with the fanfare-like celebration of the acquisition of the first batch of six A-29 Super Tucano aircraft from the United States. The Super Tucano aircraft were said to have cost $496m (£350m), but the personnel expected to use these weapons need to be brought up to speed regarding their use and maintenance.

We celebrate Flight Lieutenant Dairo’s gallantry and wish him greater successes in future endeavours. We also urge the NAF to minimise its pilots’ exposure to danger in future operations. We wish the Air Force and the military as a whole the best as they carry out their constitutional duties.

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