A Nigerian Air Force helicopter in the early hours of Monday crashed in Tami village, located in the Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

Eyewitness said the incident occurred at approximately 5:00 am, causing significant alarm among residents.

The helicopter said to be on a routine operational flight, experienced technical difficulties that led to the crash. Fortunately, the pilot managed to execute emergency protocols effectively, ensuring his survival.

Eyewitnesses at the scene reported that the pilot emerged from the wreckage largely unscathed.

Residents of Tami village quickly gathered at the crash site, offering assistance where possible and expressing relief that no lives were lost.

“We heard a loud noise and rushed to the scene. We were surprised and relieved to see the pilot alive,” said a local villager who witnessed the crash.

It was gathered that a team of military officers from the Nigerian Air Force swiftly arrived at the scene to secure the area and conduct an initial investigation.

They cordoned off the crash site to prevent unauthorised access and to ensure the safety of the villagers. The officers also began preliminary assessments to determine the cause of the crash, which remains unknown at this time.

As of the time of filling the report the Nigerian Air Force has not released an official statement regarding the incident, but an investigation is expected to be launched to ascertain the factors leading to the crash.

There was outrage on Sunday over a United Kingdom-based taxi driver, who remained on the Federal Government’s payroll despite leaving Nigeria for the UK two years ago.

Sabitu Adams gets paid N150,000 each month as a junior official at a government agency back home, a BBC report revealed.

Adams who now works as a taxi driver in the UK had his name changed by the BBC report to protect his identity.

The taxi driver has yet to resign from his job in Nigeria.

Adams is one of the thousands of ghost workers, a rampant issue in the Nigerian civil service.

Each year, the government carries out biometric verifications and reels out numbers representing discovered ghost workers, and money saved. But no one is ever announced to have been arrested or prosecuted.

Recall that President Bola Tinubu, last week, directed that all civil servants who are drawing salaries from the government after relocating abroad should be made to refund the money.

Tinubu also ordered that the culprits’ supervisors and department heads be punished for aiding and abetting the fraud while they were in charge.

Adams told the BBC that he was not worried about the president’s directives because he earns better as a taxi driver in the UK.

“When I heard about the president’s directive, I smiled because I know I am doing better here – and not worried,” the 36-year-old said.

The cab driver said he did not resign “in case I choose to go back to my job after a few years”.

Adams was quoted as saying he has an arrangement with his boss in Nigeria who is a “relative”.

“I had a good understanding with my boss and he just let me leave,” he said.

Nigeria’s President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has condemned the suicide bombers attacks on wedding guests in the Gwoza LGA of Borno state.

Several people were killed and many injured on Saturday after two suspected suicide bombers attacked wedding guests at Marraraban Gwoza in Borno.

Ajuri Ngelale, presidential spokesperson, in a statement on Sunday, said Tinubu described the attacks as desperate acts of terror and a clear manifestation of the pressure mounted against terrorists, and the success achieved in degrading their capacity to launch offensives.

“The President declares that the purveyors of wanton violence shall have a certain encounter with justice, and that these cowardly attacks are only but an isolated episode as his government will not allow the nation to slither into an era of fear, tears, sorrow, and blood,” the statement reads.

“The President states that his administration is taking necessary measures to secure citizens, emphasizing that efforts will be redoubled to ensure that those who trouble the nation, dispatching precious lives, and disrupting law and order are completely removed.”

“President Tinubu condoles with the victims of the attacks, the families of the deceased, as well as the government and people of Borno State.”