By Uzor Odigbo
The Confederation of African Athletics, (CAA) has offered its condolences to the President and people of Nigeria on the death of Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru and 10 other officers killed Friday in a plane crash in Kaduna.
In a condolence letter signed by its president, Hamad Kalkaba Malboum and addressed to the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr Sunday Dare, the CAA expressed sadness over the unfortunate air crash that claimed the lives of the top-ranking army commander and other military officers and says the entire African athletics family join Nigerians in mourning the tragic loss of life from Friday’s plane crash..
‘It is with great awe and sadness that I reach out to you today in response to the crash of a Nigerian Air Force plane that occurred on Friday and which resulted in the death of the Army Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru and a number of his accompanying officers,’ wrote Kalkaba Malboum who affirms the solidarity and sympathy of the Confederation of African Athletics with Nigeria in this dark hour.
”Death is always a time of great sorrow and on behalf of the entire African Athletics Family, I wish to affirm our solidarity and sympathy with Nigeria in this painful tragedy and extend our deepest condolences to His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, his government, the people and the Army of Nigeria.’
The CAA President prays for the repose of the soul of the dead and that God grants the families of the deceased the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.
‘May the Almighty grant the deceased the highest place in paradise and give you all, especially their families the courage, the patience and the strenghth to overcome the feeling of loss.”
President Buhari has called the deceased heroes who paid the ultimate price for securing their fatherland.
“All of them are heroes who paid the ultimate price for peace and security in the land,” Buhari tweeted
