Kaduna Bombing: NEF Member Demands Resignation Of Army Top Brass
Prof. Usman Yusuf, a public affairs analyst and member of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), has demanded that military high command resign in response to an unintentional bombing that occurred on Sunday at Tudun Biri village in the Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State, killing 85 villagers and injuring several more.
"This is reckless," he declared on Tuesday's Politics Today show on Channels Television, bemoaning the fact that Nigerians were being killed by the military, which was supposed to defend them from outside threats.
According to Yusuf, in other countries, all military chiefs would have submitted their letters of resignation due to the accident that has left the nation in mourning.
Each and every one of them will step down and be fired; they will all resign. He declared, "Everyone will go, including the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), and the President will end his trip and go home.
In June, roughly three weeks after taking office as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Bola Tinubu named a new group of service chiefs?
"All of them should go - the CDS, the Chief of Army Staff, the GOC, the operatives, heads must roll," the analyst emphasised, reinforcing his earlier statement.
On Tuesday, the families of the deceased victims and the injured were visited in hospitals in Kaduna by Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, the COAS, and General Christopher Musa, the CDS.
"Army Cannot Examine Itself"
The two service chiefs expressed regret for the accident and extended their apology to the state's citizens, assuring them that a similar airstrike would not happen again.
Along with expressing sympathy to the state's citizens, the president insisted on an inquiry into the mishap.
Nevertheless, Yusuf asserted, "The Army cannot look into itself; there should be a strong, independent committee led by a retired Chief Justice of Nigerian, and there should be a service chief in there."
Foreign nations would be wary of arming the Nigerian military "when they are dropping it on our people," he claimed.
Following Sunday's unintentional aerial attack, confusion ensued as the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) denied any involvement in the bombing.
Following that, the Kaduna State Government declared that the Army had accepted responsibility for the unintentional error. The Army admitted responsibility for the incident on Tuesday and stated that terrorists occasionally blend in with the general public.
A Pattern Of Inaccuracies?
When fighting alleged bandits and terrorists, Nigeria's armed forces frequently use airstrikes. Such airstrikes have not, however, been without controversy, bombings that went undetected, and purported errors in calculation that resulted in the deaths of innocent Nigerians, including soldiers.
The NAF assumed accountability for a deadly airstrike on the Nasarawa village of Kwatiri earlier in 2023. Six more people were hurt and at least 39 people died in the airstrike that took place on January 24.
About 20 soldiers on the ground are said to have died in Mainok, Borno State, in 2021 when a NAF fighter jet responding to Boko Haram insurgent attacks on a military camp bombed the camp using the incorrect coordinate.
