{"id":80216,"date":"2025-12-14T13:55:50","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T13:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=80216"},"modified":"2025-12-14T13:55:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T13:55:50","slug":"nigerian-soldiers-spend-sixth-day-in-burkina-faso-detention-as-talks-continue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/12\/14\/nigerian-soldiers-spend-sixth-day-in-burkina-faso-detention-as-talks-continue\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigerian Soldiers Spend Sixth Day in Burkina Faso Detention as Talks Continue"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>By Oso Abidemi\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Eleven Nigerian military personnel remain in detention in Burkina Faso, six days after a Nigerian Air Force (NAF), C-130 aircraft made a precautionary landing in the country, prompting diplomatic engagement between both governments.<\/p>\n<p>The incident occurred on December 8, 2025, when the aircraft, en route to Portugal on a ferry mission, developed a technical fault shortly after departing Lagos.<\/p>\n<p>In line with international aviation safety procedures, the crew diverted to the nearest airport in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.<\/p>\n<p>However, the Burkinabe military government seized the aircraft and detained its crew, alleging that it entered the country\u2019s airspace without prior authorisation.<\/p>\n<p>Burkina Faso\u2019s Minister of Territorial Administration, Emile Zerbo, said investigations confirmed the absence of clearance, while the Confederation of Sahel States described the incident as a breach of sovereignty.<\/p>\n<p>The Nigerian Air Force said the detained personnel are safe and receiving cordial treatment. NAF spokesman, Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, maintained that the landing followed standard safety protocols.<\/p>\n<p>Nigeria has since intensified diplomatic efforts to secure the release of the soldiers and aircraft.<\/p>\n<p>The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Nigerian Embassy in Ouagadougou is engaging Burkinabe authorities to resolve the matter.<\/p>\n<p>Amid the standoff, former senator and APC chieftain, Ayodele Arise, urged the Federal Government to consider a tougher stance, including a possible military option, though officials insist diplomacy remains the preferred route.<\/p>\n<p>Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Tuggar reaffirmed that discussions are ongoing and clarified that the incident is unrelated to Nigeria\u2019s recent military activities in Benin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Oso Abidemi\u00a0 Eleven Nigerian military personnel remain in detention in Burkina Faso, six days after a Nigerian Air Force (NAF), C-130 aircraft made a precautionary landing in the country, prompting diplomatic engagement between both governments. The incident occurred on December 8, 2025, when the aircraft, en route to Portugal on a ferry mission, developed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":80217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80218,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80216\/revisions\/80218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}