… Calls for investigation
The governor of Sokoto state, Dr. Ahmed Aliyu, has described the alleged killing of civilians by a military fighter jet targeting Lakurawa terrorists group as unfortunate.
The governor who called for a thorough investigation to unravel the cause of the avoidable mistake, however, said the act was destined to happen by the Almighty Allah.
Blueprint reports that in what appeared like Tudun Biri incident, military fighter jets pursuing suspected bandits early hours of Wednesday killed 10 people in Gidan Bisa and Runtuwa villages of Silame local government area of Sokoto state
According to a press statement issued and made available to newsmen by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor on Media, the governor stated this in a condolence message to the family of the bereaved and the community.
The statement further said that the governor, Dr. Ahmed Aliyu has in company of the APC leader in the state, Senator Aliyu Magarakarda Wamakko and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Muhammadu Maigari Dingyadi, defied the difficult terrain of the village and joined other villagers for the funeral prayers for the deceased.
” The military jets were on their mission to eliminate criminals armed groups terrorizing the state, and mistakenly bombed innocent people of this community.
“We consider this as a mistake because the same military had on several occasions successfully raided so many criminal hideouts in the state,” he added
Ahmed Aliyu further said a thorough investigation would be conducted to find out what led to the avoidable mistake, so as to guard against its recurrence.
Governor Aliyu also prayed to Almighty Allah to forgive the deceased, and give their families the strength to bear the loss.
According to the Chairman of the area, Abubakar Gitta Rana, the incident occurred at about 6am when two military fighter jets erroneously dropped bombs in the village, leaving 10 villagers and many livestock dead.
Earlier, the Secretary to the state government, Alhaji Muhammad Bello Sifawa, announced a donation of N20 million and 100 bags of assorted food stuffs to the families of the deceased.
He added that the state government will also settle the medical bills of those hospitalized as a result of injuries they sustained from the bombardment.
