Abused and levied by terrorists before they can access their farmlands, northern farmers are in a real dilemma. While the outlaws even slaughter some of them for failing to comply with their dictates and monetary demands, many in the North now live in the shadows of death worried by accidental bombing. Although the military claims a comprehensive investigation is in progress, much is yet to be heard of the outcome of its findings. With the image of a killing field already silhouetting, matters are further complicated, with insurgents and bandits struggling for territories. While improved assets for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, as well as precision strikes in insurgents’ enclaves, are being canvassed, ENO-ABASI SUNDAY writes that calls for action, including remediation and compensation for victims of wrongful deaths, are gaining ground.
Listening to one of the survivors of the December 3, 2023, Nigerian military airstrikes in Kaduna State (which led to the death of 85 persons, and dozens injured) recount the sad episode cannot go without streams of tears welling up in the listener’s eyes.
Explaining to the media how the tragic event unfolded when Muslim faithful were gathered for Maulud, a Muslim religious event, in Tundun Biri Community in Igabi Local Council of Kaduna State, the survivor, who suffered life-threatening injuries including fractures and bruising to his neck and chest said that he was preparing to retire to the bed for the night when a heavy, thunderous sound that was followed by screams and cries jolted him.
Upon darting out of his apartment to locate his wife and children, who were still observing the religious ritual, he waded his way through a mass of mangled bodies that were carelessly strewn everywhere.
Lucky to be alive today, he added: “I was hugging my son, who had a broken leg when they dropped the second explosive on us. I lost all my five children and their mother.”
The weight of his grief is on a different scale compared to another survivor who lost 14 family members, including his 17-year-old daughter, three nieces, two nephews, and his brother. He summed it up this way: “We are in serious trauma. We know that the government won’t do anything because the military is involved.”
Such is the desperate situation that hundreds of victims and their relatives have found themselves in since the military started amassing innocent civilians as collateral damages while fighting Boko Haram insurgents alongside criminal gangs, commonly known as bandits whose stock in trade is killing, pilfering, and kidnapping for ransom in parts of the North.
After a military aircraft dropped a bomb on Daglun in Borno State, killing 20 civilians in 2014, the next major blood-chilling scene of such was recorded on January 17, 2017, where about 120 persons were killed. Dozens sustained injuries in another accidental airstrike on an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Rann, still in Borno State.
With the attendant sorrow and pain that the incident in Rann, Headquarters of Kala/Balge Local Council elicited, many had wished that such scenes never get replicated anywhere in the country, but sadly, these accidental bombings have become routine. No thanks to a combination of factors, including intelligence failure, lack of real-time updates and credible local informants, and the challenge of weak coordination among security agencies. In addition to this is the government’s attitude to hold the military to account, which is encouraging impunity and endangering civilian lives.
According to SBM Intelligence, an Africa-focused market intelligence, security analysis, and strategic consulting firm, the Nigerian Air Force has carried out 17 accidental air strikes between January 2017 and September 2024, killing about 500 people. The last two incidents, which happened 10 days apart, have pushed the casualty figure further up.
Timeline of accidental killings by Nigerian military
January 17, 2017
OVER 52 villagers were killed and 120 injured in an accidental bombing by the Nigerian Air Force fighter jets of the Internally Displaced People’s camp in Rann, Borno State
April 13, 2020
A fighter jet of the Nigerian Air Force bombed Sakotoku village in Damboa Local Council of Borno State, killing 17 civilians, including women and children.
April 2022
Nigerian Air Force jet killed six children in Kurebe village in Shiroro Local Council of Niger State. The bombs were targeted at terrorists hiding in the area.
July 7, 2022
Nigerian Air Force jet bombed Kunkuna village in the Safana Local Council of Katsina killing 13 villagers including women and children.
January 2023
Bombs by the Nigerian Air Force jets killed 37 persons, including herders at the boundary between Benue and Nasarawa states in Doma Local Council of Nasarawa State.
December 3, 2023
Nigerian Army drone killed 85 villagers in TudunBiri of the Igabi Local Council of Kaduna State.
December 25, 2024
Nigerian Army drone killed at least 10 people in a Christmas Day airstrike, which targeted the terror group Lakurawa in the villages of GidanSama and Rumtuwa in Sokoto State.
January 11, 2025
Over 16 residents were killed after a military air strike tore through the Tungar Kara Community in the Maradun LGA of Zamfara State.
Unabating killings eliciting condemnation at home, abroad
ONE day after a Nigerian Army drone killed 85 villagers in TudunBiri Village, in Igabi Local Council of Kaduna State, on December 3, 2024, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, directed an in-depth investigation into the incident.
Describing the “bombing mishap” as worrying and “painful”, Tinubu directed “a thorough and full-fledged investigation into the incident and called for calm while the authorities look diligently into the mishap.”
Despite the probe, most public-spirited Nigerians and civil society groups are far from impressed with the federal government’s action on the accidental killings.
They accuse the government of shielding complicit personnel from judgment and also failing to thoroughly scrutinise military operations that keep on cutting short civilians’ lives.
Interestingly, it is not only within the country that the rash of killings by the Nigerian military and sundry professional breaches by servicemen is eliciting concerns but also happening across international borders.
For instance, in February last year, some members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives in the United States called on the Joe Biden-led administration to halt $1 billion arms assistance for Nigeria.
The members were reacting to unending reports on the targeted killing of children by the Nigerian military, and an alleged programme of forced abortions carried out on women in the North.
The Nigerian military is bound under international human rights law to use force against citizens only when unavoidable. Even at that, it should be with restraint and in proportion to the circumstances. Consequently, lethal weaponry should only be deployed when strictly unavoidable to protect lives.
Indeed, federal authorities’ taking responsibility for the killings and tendering public apologies carries little or no weight as victims/survivors are denied compensation, and justice, while accountability is ignored.
It is in light of this development that the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) is deploring the killings as one accident too many while calling for greater care to avoid a re-occurrence.
“Launching air raids is not a legitimate law enforcement method by anyone’s standard. Such reckless use of deadly force is unlawful, outrageous and lays bare, the Nigerian military’s shocking disregard for the lives of those it supposedly exists to protect.”
According to its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, the group strongly cautions the Nigerian Armed Forces to pay greater attention to details and deploy target-specific drone technology that is often used in such combats and such confusing topography as Zamfara State to minimise collateral damage in the counter-terror war.
“We commend the members of the armed forces for the courageous battles they are waging against terrorists to restore stability, national security, and economic growth across Nigeria. But we make haste to call on the combatants to be circumspect and do whatever they can to avoid all avoidable, accidental killing of innocent civilians.”
For some sections of society, the most troubling aspects of the unprovoked killings by the military are its frequency and the Federal Government’s failure to thoroughly investigate and punish perpetrators, as well as give closure to these unjust deaths through payment of compensation.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Beacon Consulting Limited, Dr Kabir Adamu, totally agree that “the frequency of accidental bombings, coupled with the government’s failure to investigate these incidents, hold perpetrators accountable, or provide compensation to victims, is deeply troubling and has far-reaching consequences.”
These include its impact on citizens’ trust and support. In any conflict, the ‘audience’ (the citizens) plays a pivotal role in determining the success or failure of counterinsurgency efforts. When accidental bombings result in civilian casualties, the government’s failure to provide justice and closure risks alienating this critical group. Citizens who lose loved ones or witness such tragedies are less likely to support government actions, and their disillusionment can lead to passive or active resistance. Without their backing, the government’s ability to effectively combat banditry is severely compromised.
“In that triangular dynamic of the government, the bandits, and the audience, the citizens’ role is paramount. Without their trust and cooperation, government efforts to combat banditry become unsustainable. A disenchanted ‘audience’ may withhold intelligence, resort to self-help, or shift allegiance. In extreme cases, they might side with the bandits or other anti-government forces out of frustration or desperation,” Adamu said.
He continued: “When incidents of accidental bombings go uninvestigated and unpunished, the government risks being perceived as indifferent to the suffering of its people. This lack of accountability creates an impression of a state unwilling or unable to protect its citizens, further eroding public trust. Additionally, the failure to address accidental bombings inadvertently strengthens the bandits by giving them propaganda tools to exploit civilian grievances, recruit new members, and portray themselves as defenders of the oppressed. This shifts the balance of perception in their favour, undermining government efforts to delegitimise their activities.”
One year after 85 were killed in the military airstrike in Tudun Biri, the Federal Government last December gave monetary donations and infrastructure as compensation to the victims and relatives of the dead.
Commendable as the step is, many believe it does not reflect true justice, fails to address the scale of losses incurred or addresses, in any way, the much-expected military reform.
Baring his mind, Dr Adamu cautioned, “The refusal to pay compensation or publicly acknowledge mistakes not only deepens the pain of victims’ families but also suggests a lack of moral leadership. Strategically, this approach fuels resentment and perpetuates cycles of violence, as aggrieved citizens may either join or support banditry as a form of retribution.”
The deep despondency experienced by Nigerians as far as the fight against insurgency is concerned was recently subtly confirmed when the Military High Command appeared to suggest being at a loss over the sustenance of a well-oiled machinery by Boko Haram insurgents.
For instance, when he appeared on Talk to Al Jazeera, a magazine programme of news giant, Al Jazeera, on Sunday, January 5, 2025, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, nibbled at innuendoes that portrayed the international community as a “conspirator” or an accomplice in Nigeria’s failure to contain Boko Haram and groups that are affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS) in the country’s 15-year fight to contain insurgency.
When pressed by the programme’s anchor to throw more light on his allegation thus: “You must have an idea. Let’s not talk about international conspiracy theories; let’s get some hard facts.” the CDS replied: “I leave it at that because they know; everybody knows these are the challenges we are facing. The UN needs to come in because we need to trace the funding. How have they sustained themselves for 15 years?”
General Musa’s interview rubbed off on most Nigerians differently. For the former Commandant of Army Signals, Commander of Training and Doctrine, and Chief of Defence Training and Planning, General Ishola Williams (retd), the interview further exposed the weak underbelly of the Nigerian security apparatus, as well as the hopeless situation that residents of northern states have found themselves.
In an interview recently, Gen. Williams said, “Those people are in a hopeless situation because the government cannot help them. The security agencies, too, cannot help because some officers have been caught collecting money from the bandits. So, who is going to help who? Once in a while, the Air Force will come and say they have killed so many bandits. But at the end of the day, you discover that they have only killed civilians. The Chief of Defence Staff recently granted an interview to Al Jazeera, asking the UN to help us find out where Boko Haram was getting its money and resources. What he is simply saying is that we have a useless intelligence system… Moreover, if the National Intelligence Agency, the Defence Intelligence Agency, and the Department of State Services cannot find where the Boko Haram terrorists are getting money from, the government should close them. Is Boko Haram getting money from heaven? Also, if the people in the terrorised communities do not support them, they will get them out. So, we need to find out why the people are backing the terrorists.”
Also breaking ranks with General Musa on his invitation to the United Nations to trace Boko Haram’s funding source is Dr Adamu, who told The Guardian: “I feel the CDS could have said this better. The UN is active in Nigeria and supports Nigeria’s counter-terrorism campaign in various ways. Additionally, Nigeria has the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit, which has instruments and platforms for monitoring illicit flows locally and internationally.”
‘Intelligence failure, weak coordination, poor situational awareness responsible for recurring killings’
THE upsurge in the number of unprovoked killings has seen military brass hats and security experts pointing accusing fingers at some factors, prominent among which are a dearth of assets for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, as well as the need for precision strikes in insurgents’ enclave.
Adamu, the CEO of Beacon Consulting Limited, could not agree less with their submissions on factors that precipitate error killings.
“Intelligence failure plays a significant role in the routine killing of civilians by the military, particularly in conflict zones, or areas with insurgent activity. It leads to the misidentification of targets. When intelligence is incomplete, outdated, or inaccurate, military forces may misidentify civilians as combatants or threats. In addition, over-reliance on technology such as surveillance capabilities and devices, such as drones or satellite imagery, without corroborating human intelligence, can lead to errors. Additionally, poor situational awareness, including the lack of real-time updates and credible local informants or inadequate engagement with communities, leads to a failure to distinguish between civilians and adversaries.
“Thirdly, the challenge of weak coordination among agencies, including fragmented intelligence sharing involving disjointed communication and rivalry between military, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies, allows critical gaps in actionable intelligence. Associated with this is the challenge of operational silos where different security units do not share intelligence effectively; they risk operating on conflicting or incomplete information leading to accidental or erroneous targeting. There is also the issue of inadequate training and cultural bias. Troops who lack training in identifying and distinguishing combatants from non-combatants are more prone to errors in judgment. And misinterpretation of local customs, languages, or behaviours can lead to wrongful targeting,” he said.
“Finally, there is the lack of accountability and oversight, which allows impunity where military personnel believe there will be no consequences for civilian casualties, and there may be less incentive to prioritise accurate intelligence and careful planning. Also, cover-ups, denial, and the masking of failures lead to repeated incidents without learning from past mistakes.”
State govts, others must fight for justice for victims of accidental bombings
WITH a burgeoning clan of widows, widowers, and orphans created by the military’s tactical blunders, Access to Justice, a human rights and non-governmental organisation, says the society must rise and demand justice for the poor, who have been robbed of their loved ones by the military callous action.
Asked what options are available to these victims, the director of Access to Justice, Mr Joseph Otteh, said: “Surviving victims and relatives of deceased victims have rights to life and the dignity and security of their persons, at least notionally, and can petition the court for remedies through the judicial process. But, for agrarian farmers and members of vigilante groups affected by these avoidable deaths, these rights have little meaning because they will lack the means of enforcing them and holding those who have acted, presumably very negligently accountable for their actions. However, other people can step into the breach for them. Their state governments can stand in their place to demand and sue the Federal Government or the military establishment on their behalf. This is what attorneys general do in jurisdictions where the legal system is expected to meet legitimate public expectations and where governance works for those being governed. We hope that the governments of states where these atrocities – intended or not – occurred will, on behalf of their citizens and residents, champion the fight to provide effective financial remedies for the victims and relatives of victims of these actions.
On specific ways in which the Federal Government’s failure to bring perpetrators of accidental bombing to justice is fuelling more loss of innocent lives, Otteh said: “The Federal Government is making the threshold for responsible and accountable counter-banditry operations very low, and, in effect telling security and law enforcement operatives that there is a huge margin available for error, to play with human lives, and that the lives of those who live in already traumatised communities and locales are not worth the extra-caution, protection and careful planning that ought to follow military operations. Suppose the Tinubu government is still failing to undertake a thorough and independent audit of operations leading to the deaths of scores of Nigerians and to allocate responsibility for these grave errors. In that case, it simply tells us that the government feels human life is so cheaply expendable. This inaction is such a powerful message to military commanders, that they can keep repeating the cycle, and there won’t be any consequences.”
Complex, fluid nature of counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency operations responsible for tragic outcomes
WITH a somewhat sagging reputation occasioned by incessant faulty air strikes and resultant civilian casualty, the Nigerian Air Force stated that it is minimising error bombings with improved operational procedures and acquisition of precision strike capability, among other measures.
The Nigerian Air Force, earlier in the week, revealed that a comprehensive investigation is in progress to ascertain the veracity of the alleged killing of civilians in Zamfara, during an air bombardment of bandits’ enclaves, stressing the outcome of the investigation will be duly communicated to inform and re-assure the public.
The NAF re-assured that while its mission in the North-west remains to combat banditry and restore peace, the safety and well-being of all Nigerians are of utmost importance.
Spokesman of the Nigerian Air Force, Air Vice Marshal Olusola Akinboyewa, in an interview with The Guardian, regretted that “despite the most diligent effort in prosecuting the counter-insurgency war, and to some degree, the complex and fluid nature of counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency operations, tragic outcomes may occur either by accident or through collateral damage.
“It is important to add that although there were accidental bombings on some occasions in the past, the NAF had since improved its operational procedures alongside the acquisition of precision strike capability. Hence, the prevailing issues now tend towards collateral damage, which the NAF continues to work assiduously towards minimising.
“Nevertheless, be it accidental or collateral damage, the NAF views with great concern any occurrence of civilian casualties, as we are constantly mindful of our constitutional mandate to protect all law-abiding citizens of our great nation. Accordingly, lessons learnt from our past and ongoing operations are constantly being applied to refine tactics, techniques, and procedures to ensure sustained mission accomplishment while protecting civilian persons and infrastructure,” AVM Akinboyewa said.
(Guardian)
