A Nigerian Air Force aircraft came down in the swamp at Igbokoda, the headquarters of Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State, on Monday, 5 October 2026, killing all 25 people on board.
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Ten days later the main body of the aircraft has still not been located, and the traditional ruler of the community says the water the town drinks has been contaminated by what remains in the river.
Afolabi Odidiomo, the traditional ruler of Igbokoda, told Premium Times at his palace on Tuesday that the crash site and the community’s water source are the same body of water.
“This same river where the plane crashed into is what supplies our drinking water. We have a water treatment machine at Aboto about seven kilometres away from here. The water doesn’t come every day, and when it comes, it is this same water that flows there, pumped to be treated for our drinking.”
“So, it means whatever happens, pollution is already in the river, either as a result of decayed bodies or as oil that dropped into the river, and any other pollution that went into the water thereof.”
Efforts by divers and rescue teams to retrieve the wreckage and the bodies have been largely unsuccessful because of the terrain. A combined team of the Air Force, the Nigerian Navy, the police, the Igbokoda community and the Ondo State Government, deployed about a week after the crash, has succeeded in retrieving parts of human remains and broken parts of the aircraft.
Officials have confirmed that the main body of the aircraft has not been located and is suspected to be deeply submerged in the underlay of the swamp.
Rescuers have indicated that working on the site is hazardous because of the condition of the water.
Excavation continues, with more machinery being deployed. The search for the flight recorder is now the focus of the operation, on the direction of the Chief of Air Staff, Sunday Aneke, during his visit to the site last week.
The monarch described a river the community can no longer use.
“The concern of everybody in this community today is that our government spent time, energy, money, and effort looking for people that had been chopped into pieces by the crash. The pieces that are floating everywhere in our rivers. The pieces that have decayed left so much stench that is unbelievable.”
“Going close to the river is so scary now for children who usually go to swim when they return from school, because they see human flesh everywhere as they swim. Fish are also dying everywhere.”
“So, the river that used to be friendly with children has become scary, as we wonder why the government cares so much for the dead rather than the living.”
He said the crash had also destroyed economic trees and fish, which are the community’s source of livelihood.
The monarch called for an immediate clean-up of the water to prevent a worse disaster in the form of an epidemic, and said the absence of a plan to protect the people from the pollution was unfair to them. The government, he said, could have cordoned off the area so that the polluted water would be kept back from flowing into the main river.
“We are asking the government for cleanup. We are asking the government for remediation, a kind of restoration of the environment. The restoration now does not mean that we want the trees planted back, but we want the government to still do something in memory of those that died just as we have in Lagos and Ogun states.”
He said that in addition to cleaning the water, an alternative source of clean drinking water should be provided.
Benjamin Omoyele, a resident of Igbokoda and a 100 level student of Civil Engineering at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, said the pollution is a genuine concern that the people expect the government to address urgently, and that the remains still in the water are creating health concerns and contamination for residents who depend largely on it.
Odunsola Dada, known in Igbokoda as General, took the opposite view. He said the water would clean itself with time and that he did not see any present danger.
“We are all humans, and what happened is a tragedy. We will all also die at our time. The water is deep and flowing steadily. It is not a well or a pool. It is a flowing river. In a short while everything will flow into the sea and people will be able to use it as before.”
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