Ahamefule Man-Ugwueje: The touching story of the NAF co-pilot aboard the ill-fated ATR-42 military aircraft (NGR 931)

For squadron leader Ahamefule Man-Ugwueje, September 19, 2026, marked the beginning of a new chapter when he married flight lieutenant Damilola Adekunle, his colleague in the Nigeria Air Force.

The wedding brought together two families with deep connections to military service, but just 16 days later, Man-Ugwueje was among the 25 people killed when a NAF ATR-42 aircraft crashed in Igbokoda, Ondo State.

Man-Ugwueje was one of the aircraft’s two co-pilots, bringing an abrupt end to a military aviation career that had taken him from civil engineering studies to the cockpit.

His connection with the military began long before he became a pilot, having attended Air Force Comprehensive School in Oyo State between 2001 and 2007.

While studying civil engineering at the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, he was among four authors of a research paper examining waste management at a NAF base in Kaduna, which was published in the International Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

His professional path later shifted from engineering and research to aviation, with Man-Ugwueje among 14 NAF officers decorated with pilot wings in April 2018 after completing flight training in Nigeria and South Africa.

He was a flying officer at the time and was among the newly trained pilots urged by the then chief of air staff, Sadique Abubakar, to maintain discipline, dedication and hard work.

Man-Ugwueje subsequently rose to the rank of squadron leader, a military rank equivalent to major in the Nigerian Army, and served as a co-pilot in the NAF.

A family tradition of service

Military service was already part of Man-Ugwueje’s family history, as his father, Ugwueje, was a retired group captain of the Nigerian Air Force.

Although details of his father’s career are limited in the public domain, Man-Ugwueje’s professional journey continued a family connection to the force.

His marriage to Damilola, however, linked him to another family whose history of military service was marked by an earlier aviation tragedy.

Man-Ugwueje with his bride

A family marked by another crash

Damilola is the daughter of the late wing commander E.O. Adekunle, one of 13 military officers killed when a NAF Dornier 228-212 crashed in Vandeikya, Benue State, on September 17, 2006.

Adekunle was piloting the aircraft, which was carrying senior military officers from Abuja to Obudu in Cross River State for a retreat organised for members of a presidential committee established by then President Olusegun Obasanjo to reposition the Nigerian Army.

The crash claimed eight major-generals, two brigadier-generals, a lieutenant-colonel and two wing commanders, while three colonels survived.

The fatalities included major-generals A.N. Bamali, J.O. Adesunloye, J.O. Agboola, P.M. Haruna, J.T.U. Ahmedu, S.O. Otubu, B. Duniya and S.M. Lemu, as well as Brigadier-Generals Y.J. Braimah and M.B. Bawa, Lieutenant-Colonel N.A. Mohammed and Wing Commanders E.O. Adekunle and S.S. Balogun.

Obasanjo, who was in Singapore for the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank when he received news of the crash, cut short the trip and returned to Nigeria.

He subsequently declared three days of national mourning and described the incident as a “monumental tragedy”.

Adekunle’s death did not end his family’s association with the Air Force, as his daughter Damilola later joined the service and rose to the rank of flight lieutenant.

Her younger brother, flight lieutenant Adekunle, is also an Air Force officer, extending the family’s military tradition into another generation.

In September 2026, Damilola married Man-Ugwueje, whose own family also had a history of service in the force, only for the marriage to be followed days later by another NAF aircraft tragedy.

A name that carries a legacy

Caroline Mojirade, an X user who said she knew Man-Ugwueje briefly in Benin City, remembered him as a “dogged leader” who sought opportunities for junior colleagues.

Man-Ugwueje

His name, Ahamefule, carries a particularly poignant meaning, translating as “my name is not lost” or “let my name not be forgotten”.

For a man whose life was shaped by military service, aviation and two families bound by the same institution, the meaning of that name has taken on added significance following his death.

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