BY LINUS CHIBUIKE
THE Nigerian Airforce on Tuesday denied reports that a helicopter was shot down by Boko Haram terrorists, saying it was a United Nations helicopter that developed a fault and made an emergency landing at Banki.
The Director, Airforce Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, said a UN helicopter actually undertook a mission to Banki but had since returned to Maiduguri.
In a statement refuting the earlier claim, Daramola said, “No helicopter was shot down. No helicopter crashed in Borno State… A UN helicopter indeed undertook a mission to Banki and has since returned to Maiduguri.”
“One would have expected that, in line with the ethics of journalism, the more deliberate effort would have been made to verify the story by contacting relevant authorities before going to press,” he said.
He however stressed that the claim that a helicopter was gunned down while people died was untrue.
