Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has dismissed claims that the Nigerian Acting Head of Mission in Portugal was summoned by Portuguese authorities over the movement of a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) plane scheduled for maintenance in the European country.
Addressing journalists on Friday in Abuja, the ministry’s spokesperson, Kimiebi Ebienfa, described the circulating reports as “entirely false.”
“The alleged summoning of the Nigerian Ambassador in Lisbon by Portuguese authorities over a Nigerian Air Force aircraft heading to Portugal for maintenance is fake news,” Ebienfa said.
The clarification follows heightened attention on a C-130 military aircraft that made an unplanned landing in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, earlier this week. The aircraft, en route to Portugal for routine maintenance, diverted after the crew detected a technical issue shortly after departing Lagos on December 8, 2025.
Burkina Faso’s state-run Agence d’Information du Burkina reported that the aircraft, carrying 11 Nigerian soldiers, landed after allegedly violating Burkinabe airspace. A statement from the regional Confederation of Sahel States condemned the incident, noting the absence of prior authorisation for the military plane to traverse Burkina Faso’s airspace.
The Nigerian Air Force, however, maintained that the diversion was carried out in compliance with international aviation protocols and was necessary to ensure the safety of the crew and passengers.
