Flight Lieutenant Damilola Adekunle has been left mourning her husband, Squadron Leader Aham Man-Ugwueje, who died in a Nigerian Air Force aircraft crash in Igbokoda, Ondo State, just 16 days after their wedding.
Man-Ugwueje and Adekunle, both officers of the Nigerian Air Force, got married on September 19 at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, The Masters Place, in Utako, Abuja.
The couple’s marriage was cut short after Man-Ugwueje died in the crash involving NAF 931, an ATR 42 aircraft that went down in a swampy area of Igbokoda, Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State.
The aircraft crashed on Monday, October 5, during a routine mission from Benin City to Lagos. Man-Ugwueje was serving as one of the aircraft’s co-pilots.
In an emotional tribute to her late husband, Adekunle expressed her pain over his sudden death, saying she had expected him to return after travelling to Abuja.
“It’s Abuja you told me you were going to, you didn’t mention you won’t come back. You left me,” she said.
The tragedy has also reopened an old wound in Adekunle’s family, as her father, Wing Commander E.O. Adekunle, also died in a Nigerian Air Force aircraft crash in Benue State in 2006.
Twenty years after her father’s death, Adekunle married another Air Force officer, only to lose her husband in another military aircraft crash barely two weeks after their wedding.
The Nigerian Air Force confirmed Man-Ugwueje’s death following the October 5 crash and ordered an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the accident.
The investigation is expected to establish what caused the NAF aircraft crash and provide further details on the incident.
For Adekunle, the tragedy has turned what should have been the early days of her marriage into a period of mourning, following the death of her husband just 16 days after they exchanged wedding vows.
