My late husband dreamt of plane crash a day earlier – Pilot’s widow

Jennifer Olufade, widow of Flt Lt Alfred Olufade and pilot of the ill-fated aircraft that killed 11 military officers, including the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, in Kaduna on Friday, said the late pilot dreamt of the crash a day before the incident.

Jennifer, who got married to the late pilot three months ago, said this in an emotion-laden tribute to her husband which she posted on her Instagram page, @joba_star, on Monday.

The young wife said she prayed with her husband when he woke up and narrated the bad dream to her.

She remarked that after the dream, her husband made successful trips to Enugu and Owerri and returned to Abuja.

According to Jennifer, when she received a message from him that they were again heading to Kaduna, she tried to contact him to prevent him from embarking on the trip but without success.

She wrote, “Oh sparkle, you left me so early. Oh, my best friend, where do I start from? I am broken and pierced, my heart aches. This wasn’t what you promised me; you said you will always be there for me.

“On 20th of May, at about 4am, you woke me up with fear and said ‘baby, baby, I had a bad dream. I dreamt that I crashed on my way to Kaduna.’ You said it looked very real. I prayed for you seriously that morning and asked you not to worry and asked you your mission order and who you were flying with and you told me Flt. Lt Asaniyi.

“I said ‘don’t worry, you will go and come back.’ You went to Enugu, Owerri and back to Abuja. We did video call and also spoke at length and you were just smiling. Little did I know that was your last smile.

“The next message I received was that you were going to Kaduna. My heart shattered, I smelt danger, I started calling you, you didn’t pick. Why didn’t you pick? Why? I wanted to beg you not to go.

“These three months have been heaven for me. We eat together in the same plate, we prayed together, we laughed and cried together. This wasn’t the plan you had for me.

“You said you will always be by my side. It is still like a dream that I can’t see you. I know you are coming back to me. All I see are condolence messages. How do I stand them? Reading them pierces my heart even more.

“I feel like a failure, I couldn’t stop you, I couldn’t stop Asaniyi, oh my God, Oh My God. You saw this.”