A public affairs analyst and member of the Northern Elders Forum, Usman Yusuf, has sought the resignation of military top brass over the accidental bombing that killed 85 villagers and injured several others at Tudun Biri village in the Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State on Sunday.
Yusuf made this call in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, add that those in the chain of command should be fired.
Yusuf said, “This is irresponsible. They will all resign; everybody in the chain of command will be fired. The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), everybody will go and the President will cut his trip and return home.”
He said in other climes, all military chiefs would have tendered their resignation letters over the accident, which has thrown the country into mourning.
He bemoaned that the military, which is meant to protect Nigerians against external threats, was killing the people.
The NEF member pointed out that “All of them should go – the CDS, the Chief of Army Staff, the GOC, the operatives, heads must roll.”
Meanwhile, both the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa and the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja visited deceased victims’ families and injured ones in hospitals in Kaduna on Tuesday.
The two service chiefs described the accident as regrettable and apologised to the people of the state, promising them that such an accident wouldn’t recur.
The President Tinubu also sent his heartfelt sympathy to the people of the state while demanding an investigation into the accident.
However, Yusuf said, “The Army cannot investigate itself; there should be a high-powered, independent committee headed by a retired CJN (Chief Justice of Nigeria) and in there, there should be a service chief.”
He said foreign countries would be hesitant about selling arms to the Nigerian military “when they are dropping them on our people.”.
Meanwhile, confusion had trailed Sunday’s accidental air strike with the Nigerian Air Force saying it was not responsible for the bombing.
The Kaduna State Government thereafter said the Army had taken responsibility for the accidental mistake. The Army took responsibility for the accident on Tuesday, saying terrorists sometimes mingle with the civilians.
Nigeria’s armed forces often rely on airstrikes in their battle against so-called bandits and terrorists.
However, such air strikes have not been without controversies, accidental bombings and alleged miscalculations, with innocent Nigerians, including soldiers as casualties.
In 2023, NAF took responsibility over a fatal airstrike on Kwatiri, a Nasarawa village. At least 39 persons were killed and six others injured in the airstrike that occurred on 24 January.
Also in 2021, about 20 soldiers on ground were allegedly slain in Mainok, Borno State, when a NAF fighter jet responding to attacks on a military camp by Boko Haram insurgents bombed the military camp based on a wrong coordinate.
President Bola Tinubu appointed a new set of service chiefs in June, about three weeks after being in the saddle as the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces.
