Don’t Politicize Kaduna Inadvertently Bombing; Coalition warns mischief makers.
The Coalition of Civil Society Groups Against Terrorism in Nigeria, has called for caution and halt to the perceived politicization of the unfortunate incident at Tudun Biri Community in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State during the Army’s aerial bombardment of perceived terrorists which inadvertently led to the bombing of some innocent civilians.
The group in a statement on Wednesday, November 6th, 2023 signed by its Convener, Comrade Oladimeji Odeyemi and the Secretary General, Barrister John Atani attested to the fact that the Nigerian Army under the current Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, is a professional entity, apolitical and skillful and couldn’t have bombed innocent civilians intentionally. The group advised individuals and political groups who intend to use this tragedy to score cheap political points to desist from such as it’s tantamount to unwarranted wickedness that would cause chaos and tension in the society .
Accordingly, the group advised Nigerians to await the conclusion of the investigation by security agencies. It would be recalled that the Director, Army Public Relations in a statement said the Chief of Army Staff, has paid a condolence visit to the Tudun Biri Community, where he regretted the unfortunate mishap, describing it as a very disheartening occurrence. It was also noted that the area and most adjoining communities were infested with armed bandits, who terrorised the communities, until the troop of the Nigerian Army started conducting operations to sanitize the area to make it habitable
While he pointed it out, that the troops were carrying out aerial patrols, when they observed a group of people and wrongly analysed and misinterpreted their pattern of activities to be similar to that of the bandits, before the drone strike.
While, commiserating with the government and the people of Kaduna State, especially the people of Tudun Biri on this unfortunate incident. The coalition appreciated the Chief of Army Staff, General Lagbaja for personally leading a team of the leadership of the Nigerian Army to identify with the people of the community at this trying moment, and more importantly the COAS also disclosed that he has order a thorough inquiry into the incident to ascertain and identify areas of deficiency that led to the inadvertent disaster, adding that the findings and overarching outcome of the investigation will guide the Nigerian Army in meticulously and professionally seeking and applying lasting solutions to identified lapses and deficiencies in both the human and artificial intelligence variables that will forestall future recurrence.
The Coalition further call on the leadership of the Nigerian Army not to leave any stone unturned to unravel what really happened with a view to forestalling a repeat of such an unfortunate incident.
The Coalition also sent their heartfelt condolences to the people and government of Kaduna State, especially the families of these who lost loved ones in Tudun Biri community.
