₦airaland Forum

Sunday Dare, CON @SundayDareSD

SAFE PRECAUTIONARY LANDING OF NAF C-130 AIRCRAFT IN BURKINA FASO

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) wishes to clarify reports regarding the diversion of a NAF C-130 aircraft during its ferry mission to Portugal on 8 December 2025. Following takeoff from Lagos, the crew observed a technical concern which necessitated a precautionary landing in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, the nearest airfield, in accordance with standard safety procedures and international aviation protocols. NAF crew is safe and have received cordial treatment from the host authorities.

Plans are ongoing to resume the mission as scheduled. The Nigerian Air Force appreciates the support received during this period and assures the public that NAF remains professionally committed to strict compliance with operational procedures and safety standards, ensuring the protection of its personnel while fulfilling its constitutional mandate.

Ehimen Ejodame
Air Commodore
Director of Public Relations and Information,
Headquarters, Nigerian Air Force
9 December 2025

Source

The Hercules C130 is a transport plane.

naptu2:
The Hercules C130 is in the news, so this gives me an opportunity to tell the C130 story. I often told this story in the 2000s and early 2010s.

I am writing this from memory, so forgive me for any errors.


For many years the Hercules C130 was the main transport plane for the US Air Force. In fact, if I remember correctly, it holds the world record as the plane that has been in service with its original primary owner. It has been used by the US Air Force for over 50 years.

You might remember that when I was writing about the Super Tucano, I told you that the US Air Force has a system for categorising its planes and this involves the use of letters. It goes like this:



A: Attack
C: Cargo (i.e., transport)
D: Drone (i.e., drone control)
E: Electronic warfare
F: Fighter
H: Help aircraft (i.e., search and rescue)
K: Kerosene Carrier (i.e., tanker)
L: Equipped for cold weather operations
M: Multi-mission (i.e., Special Operations)
O: Observation
P: Maritime patrol
Q: Unmanned aerial vehicle
R: Reconnaissance
S: Surface warfare
T: Trainer
U: Utility
V: VIP transport
W: Weather reconnaissance


So the Hercules C130 is a cargo or transport aircraft.


The reason that the C130 is so popular and has lasted so long is because of its versatility. It can be used to carry military vehicles (the Nigerian Air Force used a C130 to carry the NTA's OB van to Liberia for the inauguration of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the 2000s), it can carry troops (the C130 was once used to carry journalists to Super Eagles matches back when the presidential jet was used to carry Super Eagles players) and it can also be used to carry supplies like food, fuel and medicine.

In fact, in the 1970s, the US Air Force modified the C130, by putting a howitzer in it and it became a ground attack aircraft known as the AC130. (You might remember that I told you, when I was writing about the Super Tucano, that propeller planes are good for counter insurgency [COIN] operations because they have a longer loiter time).

In Sudan, C130s were used as bombers during the war in the 2000s. Dumb bombs were simply dropped from the ramp of the C130 and the government did not care who the bombs hit.


The C130 also has an advantage over jet planes. Unlike most jet planes, it can take off from a very short runway and it can even take off from grass or dirt runways. This makes it very good for rescuing people in very difficult conditions. A C130 has even landed on an aircraft carrier! (If I remember correctly, this is in the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest and heaviest plane to land on an aircraft carrier).

But now let's come to the subject of this post.


The US Air Force has wanted to replace the C130 for a long time, but it has not been able to. Why? Because of "constituency project".

You see jet planes have been made that can almost do what the C130 does. I have told you many times about the C17 Globemaster and the C5 Galaxy. These are cargo planes that are jet planes. And if you want the C130s ability to land and take off in difficult places, you've got the V-22 Osprey, which is a tiltrotor aircraft (helicopter-plane).

But you see, the C130 is made in factories in certain places in the United States and it provides jobs for residents of those places and taxes for the local and state governments in those places. The senators and members of the House of Representatives from those places do not want the C130 programme to end. The money for aircraft and other military equipment comes from Congress and those senators and representatives always take action in Congress to ensure that the C130 programme keeps going on.

In fact, they are talking about making a "Super C130"!


Picture 1: Nigerian Air Force Hercules C130

Picture 2: AC130 (the C130 has been converted to an attack plane)

Picture 3: C17 Globemaster

Picture 4: C5 Galaxy

Picture 5: Osprey (in helicopter mode)

Picture 6: Osprey (in airplane mode)

naptu2:
How do the limousines of heads of state travel from one city to the other?

I have written about this many times since 2008, but I think it's time to write about it again.

A president is about to travel. He goes to the airport in a motorcade, steps out of a limousine and into the plane and it takes off.

The presidential plane lands in another city, maybe in another country or it could even be on another continent. He steps out of the plane, greets his hosts, is introduced to dignitaries and then he steps into the same limousine that took him to the airport in his own country. How did the limousine get there so fast? Is it magic? Is it juju? How did they do it?

I'll tell you how.

There are many ways in which this feat is achieved and I'm going to tell you all of them (with pictures attached).


1) CVU

The Conference Visitors Unit (CVU) was set up by a law that was enacted by the administration of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. The main purpose of CVU was to prepare Nigeria to host international conferences and events like the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, OAU Summit and ECOWAS summits. CVU basically provided the logistics for international events that were hosted by Nigeria.

CVU booked hotels for visiting dignitaries. In conjunction with the Foreign Ministry, they sometimes provided interpreters for international events. They also helped to organise local events like constituent assemblies and the provided logistics to support the National Assembly in the immediate aftermath of military rule.

However, what CVU was most well known for was its cars.

The law that was made by Tafawa Balewa's Government stipulated that any vehicle that belonged to the Federal Government, but which was not attached to any ministry, department or agency must be kept with the CVU.

I can probably tell you about every car that was at the headquarters of CVU from the late 1970s till the early 1990s (and even beyond).

There were a lot of green W116 Mercedes Benz S Class cars at CVU in the late 1970s (during the Murtala/Obasanjo/Yar'Adua era). These were replaced with black W126 S Class cars during the Shagari era.

There were very many of those W126 S Class cars at CVU during the 1980s. The Shagari Administration bought mainly Mercedes Benz 500SEL and Mercedes Benz 280SEL models and the Babangida Administration added Mercedes Benz 560SEL models.

There were also a lot of Mercedes Benz W201 (190E) and W124 Mercedes Benz (V Booth) cars there.

There was a Mercedes Benz W123 stretch limousine there as well. It had 3 rows of seats, but it had only 4 doors. There also used to be lots of regular W123 sedans, but these were replaced by the W124s during the Babangida era.

Most of those gigantic Mercedes Benz buses that were imported from Brazil for FESTAC '77 were also kept at CVU. They were used to convey delegates to conferences, but when there were no conferences, they were used as staff buses, to convey CVU staff to and from work. Those buses were very noisy and you could hear them all across the neighbourhood.

There were also smaller and quieter air conditioned Mercedes Benz buses, which I believe were used for an Ecowas or OAU summit. They were also used as staff buses.

There were many silver and black Peugeot 504 and 505 cars at CVU and a lone blue Peugeot 505 Evolution.

There were also utility vehicles like tow trucks and tankers at CVU.

Nigeria hosted the OAU Summit in Abuja in 1991 and many 6-door W124 Mercedes Benz limousines were bought to convey visiting presidents around Abuja. Some of those limousines were brought to Lagos and kept at CVU after the summit.

The Abdulsalam Abubakar Administration bought several W140 stretch limousines and salon cars and he ordered that they should be distributed across the various CVU depots.

That's the point. CVU had its headquarters in Lagos, but it also had depots in Kano and Enugu. The headquarters was moved to Abuja in the 1990s. This meant that CVU could provide identical limousines and luxury cars for a dignitary's use, no matter where the dignitary was in Nigeria.

It could provide vehicles from Lagos for any event in the South-West, it could provide vehicles from Kano for any event in the North, it could provide vehicles from Enugu for any event in the East and it could provide vehicles from Abuja for any event in the Middle Belt.

Therefore, you could see the President arrive Lagos Airport in a particular car and then see him depart Kano Airport in an identical car.

But this doesn't explain everything. President Olusegun Obasanjo felt that the Federal Government was spending too much money and so his government sold a lot of things that the Federal Government owned, in order to save money. Those things included a lot of CVU assets.

A lot of CVU cars were sold by that government. The former CVU Headquarters in Lagos was handed over to the EFCC and the EFCC now uses it to store cars that it has seized from criminals. The CVU depots in Kano and Enugu were also sold and only the CVU Headquarters in Abuja still remains.

So, how come we still see the magic of the President using one car in one city and still using the same car in another city?

2) Transport planes:

In a lot of cases, most of the vehicles in the VIP's motorcade are transported from city to city by transport planes.

Air forces all over the world have transport planes that they use to carry trucks, armoured vehicles and other goods to the war zones. These transport planes can also carry the vehicles in the VIPs motorcade.

American, Russian and Chinese heads of state always fly in their limousines and other motorcade vehicles whenever they are travelling out of their capitals. In fact, the Americans take this practice to a totally crazy level.

The Americans transport their president's helicopters and other associated aircraft by transport planes to wherever he is going.

The pictures below are of the motorcade of the former chief of Air Staff of Nigeria, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar. The vehicles are being loaded aboard a Hercules C130 transport plane.

In the next post you can see the US president's limousine being loaded onto a C5 Galaxy transport plane.

The limousines of the British monarch are also loaded onto C17 Globemaster transport planes.

(All these planes begin with the letter C because they were made by American companies and the American Air Force's naming system dictates that the names of transport planes begin with C).

3) Royal yacht:

Lastly, a limousine could be transported by the Royal Yacht.

The Royal Yacht Britannia was ordered during the reign of King George VI. However, he died before it was completed and it was his daughter, Queen Elizabeth II that used it. The Royal Yacht was often sailed to the places that the Queen would visit and she often hosted the head of state that she was visiting to dinner onboard the ship.

I got the chance to get a good view of the yacht in 1990 when it was moored at Marina in Lagos for the visit of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

There is a garage on the yacht and one of the Queen's Rolls Royce limousines could be put in that garage for her use when she gets to her destination. Of course, as I've previously told you, she usually has 2 identical state cars and so you might see her leave the UK in one car and then see her leave the airport at her destination in an identical car.

The Queen used the Royal Yacht Britannia from 1953 till 1997.

The Chief of Air Staff's motorcade in a C130

Nicely and professionally worded response from our own NAF

So it's not encroachment on Burkina airspace.Misinformation here and there.

Technical response .

Please don't make racist and tribalistic comments on this section

Very watery response.
Same Nigeria military that denied the killing of that Brigadier General by Boko haram in the North recently. They lie all the time

Seun stop this aggressive bot.

Some individuals like illicit that doubted this story when it appeared earlier, shame on you. It's not everything you should be sentimental for. Reality is reality.

Nigeria and reactions.

This is entirely different from what the Burkinabe authorities are saying.

All our aircraft dey faulty
U see effect of corruption ?
Dem go give u money u go carry go buy used tell them mak dem help you spray am

Nigeria for just modify that C130 to AC130.

Thank you for correcting the lies the haters are spreading

Did they go for kidnapping like they did in Kenya?

Mature response from the NAF. Whatever diplomatic, mechanical fault or whatever happened to the aircraft, it can be handled behind doors.

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) wishes to clarify reports regarding the diversion of a NAF C-130 aircraft during its ferry mission to Portugal on 8 December 2025.

Following takeoff from Lagos, the crew observed a technical concern which necessitated a precautionary landing in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, the nearest airfield, in accordance with standard safety procedures and international aviation protocols. NAF crew is safe and have received cordial treatment from the host authorities.

Understandable..

Enemies of Nigeria been peddling fake news but God pass them..

Princedapace:
And u think Nigeria govt will tell u that they were detailed? Some of u are just funny. Is it today Nigeria govt started lying?

And u think Burkina Faso can imagine that? ....wen some of you only want to hear bad news concerning your country, just because your preferred candidate lost election.


Even if Nigeria is dozing, it's not any of Sahel alliance, that would try to touch the tail of Nigeria's Tiger.

I would make a compassionate plea for Nigerians to stop all these fake news, inflammatory remarks & negative reviews about Nigeria because we don't like Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

I may be a die-hard critic of the PBAT led Administration and it reflects on my post especially on Nairaland. However, it seems some Nigerian residents just want Nigeria to fail by all means.

Haba !

Supporters of the jailed SAN (Sokoto Advocate of Nigeria) are reading this release and gnashing their scattered teeth.

No be only ferry mission to Portugal

Very dark man to Spain.

Nigerian APC govt will deny only news that is true. Just follow them like that. If they deny something just know what it is the truth

naptu2:
The Chief of Air Staff's motorcade in a C130

How is the girl who is to serve as d kpekus of d chief of air staff transported to his destination when he is away from nigeria?

Either d Nigeria airforce or d burkinafaso govt isn't saying d truth cos d statement released by d burkinafaso govt yesterday is difference from what d Nigeria airforce is saying

Hand Don touch una abi. Una think say na Kenya wen una enter illegally to kidnap kanu

Trust any response from Nigerian authority at your own risk. They have been detained in Burkina Faso. That's how they lied about the army officer killed by terrorists.

Obidientssss already were jubilating that the NAF c130 was seized by the Burkina Faso military