President Muhammadu Buhari has joined other world leaders in mourning India\u2019s Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife, and 11 others killed in a helicopter crash.<\/p>\n
President Buhari, in a message to the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on Thursday, described the deaths as irreparable losses to the Indian military and the nation.<\/p>\n
A statement by the president\u2019s spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja quoted the Nigerian leader as saying that the late Chief of Defence Staff was widely credited with the reform of the Indian armed forces and the security apparatuses.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn behalf of myself, the Government and people of Nigeria, I convey to you our deepest condolences, to the Rawat family, the families of the deceased as well as the Indian Military and nation as you mourn the Chief of Defence Staff, his wife and 11 other fine crop of officers\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Rawat was India\u2019s first chief of defence staff, a position that the Government established in 2019, and was seen as close to prime minister Modi.<\/p>\n
The 63-year-old was travelling with his wife and other senior officers in the Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter, which crashed near its destination in southern Tamil Nadu state.<\/p>\n
Modi said Rawat was an outstanding soldier and \u201ctrue patriot\u201d who had helped modernise the country\u2019s armed forces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Muhammadu Buhari has joined other world leaders in mourning India\u2019s Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife, and 11 others killed in a helicopter crash. President Buhari, in a message to the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on Thursday, described the deaths as irreparable losses to the Indian military and the nation. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":3150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[238],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foreign"],"yoast_head":"\n