A security expert, Kingsley Uzoma, says there is a need for an all-encompassing probe to precisely distinguish those that lost their lives during a military airstrike in Sokoto State.
The Sokoto State Government guaranteed that a fighter jet erroneously bombed two communities in Silame Local Government Area of the state, killing about 10 blameless villagers and injuring a few others.
“The military jets were on their mission to eliminate criminals armed groups terrorizing the state, and mistakenly bombed innocent people of this community,” the Press Secretary to the Sokoto State Chief Executive, Abubakar Bawa said.
“We consider this as a mistake because the same military had on several occasions successfully raided so many criminal hideouts in the state.”
In any case, the military denied any slip-up in its strike, with the representative for Operation Fansan Yamma, Lieutenant Colonel Abubakar Abdullahi, keeping up with the fact that “the targets struck in the vicinity of Gidan Sama and Rumtuwa have been positively identified as associated with the Lakurawa group, reinforcing the justification for the military action taken.”
Speaking on a televised programme, Uzoma noted that only a joint probe will create an impartial report of the occurrence at Sokoto.
“Such investigation has to be joint in the sense that you have to have a detachment of the military, the police, other auxiliary security agencies like the civil defence.
“Then you have representatives from agencies like the Nigerian Bar Association and selected trusted civil society organization including media houses like Channels, among others. If it is conducted in that way, I can assure you we will have an unbiased investigation report,” Uzoma said.
Taking note of the fact that the public have the obligation to believe the military and its declaration, the security expert, said that the military’s stance can only be verirfied if the joint probe is conducted in the manner he suggested.
He, notwithstanding, said that if it is found out that the military experienced e few errors during the air strike, compensation ought to be made, and more caution employed in subsequent operations.
In December 2023, a deadly military airstrike killed at least 85 people and injured several others at Tudun Biri village in the Igabi Local Government Area of the North-Western state. The incident drew condemnation from many, with the military claiming responsibility and apologising.
