History

PHOTOS: Meet The Nigerian Pilot Who Flew Two U.S Presidents

Published

4 years ago

Mar 18, 2021.

He was one of the best pilots Nigeria had ever produced .
He was picked to fly prominent world leaders on their missions to Africa .
He is an epitome of a successful career

This successful pilot was admitted into the Nigerian defence academy as a member of the twenty one (21) regular course on 3rd January 1977 . Alex Badeh began his flying career at the 301 flying centre on the Bulldog primary trainer aircraft in 1979 .

Being a young and a fresh pilot , he took risks like shutting down the engine mid – air and cascading down , ten thousand ( 10,000 ) fleet , over kijama hill in kaduna only to revive the engine back to life just before hitting the surface (ground) .

He rose through the ranks to become the commander of the presidential fleet during the regime of former president Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo, EKO HOT BLOG gathered.

During his duty post , the presidential fleet often flew around the world and by year 2002 Badeh logged over 6000 flying hours shuttling VIPs , dignitaries , top government officials and heads of state .

During this period Badeh was given green light to fly former United States president Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter to different missions after an extensive check was done by the US secret service .

Alex Badeh’s professionalism earned him a lot of commendations and this was displayed on Abuja to Accra – London flight , when the late United Nations Secetary General , Kofi Annan’s aircraft developed a sensor problem, it was Badeh who maneuvered the plane back to it’s space and put him in another aircraft to conclude the trip . Koffi Annan was so impressed that he gave him an autographed pen .

He was later elevated to the rank of Air vice Marshal on 3rd June 2008 & between the time space of 2008 to 2009 , he was directing staff of the national defence college Abuja & eventually became the director, national military strategy at the same school ( college ).

He was the 18th chief of air staff in Nigeria, subsequently, he was appointed as chief of defence 14th January & became one of the three Nigerians to have reached the rank of Air chief Marshal. The post he held until 13th July , 2015 when he was relieved of his post by president Muhammadu Buhari .

He was assassinated just a month his 62nd birthday anniversary in December 2018. He died from gunshots complications when his vehicle was attacked while returning from his farm along Abuja-Kebbi road .

Alex Badeh is an epitome of a successful career . He contributed his own quota to national development during his lifetime .

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