THE GOVERNOR OF Zamfara State, Dauda Lawal, has defended a Military airstrike on 16 civilians who were killed in Tungar Kara community in the Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
In Channels Television’s politics interview on Wednesday, the governor commiserates with the families affected by the incident, calling the casualties collateral damage.
“It was not intentional. It was in the process of fighting these bandits (that) they were struck,” he said.
“The Chief of Air Staff has set up a committee to commiserate with the state government as well as the people that were affected. They also went there yesterday to do an on-the-spot assessment to see who was involved and what happened to guide against future occurrences.”
The governor said he was aware of the military operation before the tragedy occurred, noting that he invited the Air Force to neutralise some bandits attacking the area.
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During the programme, he expressed hope in the military’s capacity to tackle bandit activities within one month.
The governor also declared that the days of the notorious bandit leader, Bello Turji, were numbered, assuring that he would soon be eliminated just as other top bandits had been neutralised.
On January 11, a Military airstrike killed 16 civilians in Tugar Kara village of Maradun Area of Zamfara. Nigerian Air Force deployed a fact-finding team to investigate the tragic military airstrike in the state.
The investigative team met with Governor Lawal on Tuesday at the Government House in Gusau.
Not The First In Zamfara
In April 2019, a military airstrike targeting terrorists mistakenly killed 17 civilians and six children including several houses in Anka community of Zamfara State.
The terrorists, known as bandits, had raided and killed several villages in Northern Nigeria including an air force fighter jet and a train where dozens were kidnapped for Ransom.
Since 2012, an estimated 12,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced across the northern western states of Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara due to the conflict, according to an October 2021 report by Abuja-based think-tank Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD).
