The Nigerian government has pledged to investigate a military airstrike that killed 10 civilians in Sokoto State, an official has said.
The Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, reportedly made the pledge when he paid a condolence visit to the Sokoto State Governor, Ahmed Aliyu.
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Mr Aliyu’s spokesperson, Abubakar Bawa, provided details of the visit in a statement shared with the News Agency of Nigeria.
PREMIUM TIMES reported the Christmas Day airstrikes which killed 10 people in Gidan Bisa and Runtuwa villages of Silame Local Government Area of Sokoto.
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The victims were buried on Boxing Day.
The military has, however, stated that the strikes were targeted at Lakurawa terrorists and were carried out after intelligence gathering.
In his statement, Mr Bawa said Mr Matawalle assured his host that a thorough investigation would be conducted.
Mr Bawa said Mr Matawalle assured that justice would prevail and reiterated the federal government’s commitment to ensuring that all Nigerians are safe wherever they are.
Mr Matawalle reportedly said it was unfortunate that terrorists were infringing on the peace of Nigerians but assured that the federal government would deal with them decisively.
He extolled Mr Aliyu’s commitment to the fight against banditry and other criminal activities in Sokoto State.
The minister reportedly reassured the governor of the military’s support to make Sokoto State safe.
“We would continue to provide all the necessary equipment and gadgets to Sokoto State,” he assured.
“Mr President (Bola Tinubu) is worried by the unfortunate incident and he asked me to come and condole you over what happened,” he said.
The minister blamed the bombing on the wrong information available to the military for the operations.
He, however, said that security reports had confirmed that the area where the incident happened was dominated by the Lakurawa bandits.
Responding, Governor Aliyu called on the military to improve their information gathering and surveillance so as to avoid hitting the wrong targets.
He commended the military and other security agencies for their commitment in making the state safe and thanked President Tinubu for the concern he has shown over the incident in the state.
The governor also thanked him for his support to the state in the fight against banditry.
He described the incident as something destined to happen and prayed to Almighty Allah to prevent its recurrence.
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He described what happened in the two villages as very unfortunate, and assured that thorough investigations would be conducted with a view to finding out what really happened.
The Sokoto incident joins a growing list of air bombings by the Nigerian military that ended up killing civilians. Similar incidents had been witnessed in states like Borno, Niger and Kaduna leading to the death of dozens of unarmed civilians.
