One of the aircraft from Presidential fleet recently handed over to the Nigerian Air Force has crashed within the Air Force base in Makurdi.

Our correspondent reliably gathered from an insider at the Air Force base that the helicopter Augusta AW101 crashed after it had already landed.

The source who pleaded not to be mentioned said, it was not a major crash. “What happened was that the helicopter had landed but suddenly moved up and then tumbled,” the source said.

It was gathered that only the flight engineer was on board and he did not sustain serious injury.

When contacted, the Air Force Public Relation Officer, Makurdi, Okon Bassey, feigned ignorance of the incident, claiming that he is undergoing a course in Lagos and promised to send the contact number of his assistant.

The assistant, who simply identified himself as Gambo, said that nothing of such happened at the base.

“It is a rumour; many people have been disturbing us concerning this thing, but I can confirm to you that nothing happened.”