Nigerian Air Force Kills Unidentified Number Of Citizens In Non-tactical Approach Against Terrorists
The Nigerian government's counterterrorism strategies frequently kill honest individuals. Meanwhile, residents claim that soldiers frequently do not pursue terrorists when they attack their towns, despite officers' assurances that they do so in order to avoid hitting innocent people. In this report, ODIMEGWU ONWUMERE explores the mistake of soldiers besieging innocent people in the battle against radicals, revealing that it is overflowing
In what should be a film, fiction generally works out in the Nigerian Air Force mission while battling terrorists holding influence in certain parts of Northern Nigeria. Frequently, innocent people are bombed, confusing them with terrorists.
At the point when this occurs, the authorities will either claim it or not. To this end, what worked out in neighboring Niger, where 12 innocent individuals were hit by an evidently Nigerian plane in pursuit of insurgents, has not been ascertained, with the Nigerien government saying it was the Nigerian Air Force that erroneously hit its residents while the Nigerian government is trying to claim ignorance.
The issue of official planes erroneously bombarding innocent people has created a kind of fear among residents who are not used to seeing a jet floating around them overhead. With this reckless improvement among the authorities, separatists in Nigeria once sued two top Biden administration authorities for getting the deal free of warplanes to Nigeria in an arrangement first signposted by the Trump administration.
In March 2021, the seventeenth representative of the Nigerian Air Force who was designated in March 2021 by the Nigerian Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Isiaka Oladayo Amao, had in a public presentation expressed when there was a similar bomb setback focused on terrorists hitting guiltless individuals, "We are examining. We must be certain. That climate is exceptionally invaded by terrorists."
UN Photo Marco Dormino
Mistaken identity
In April 2020, Sakotoku village in the Borno state of Nigeria, which is part of the Damboa local government area, experienced what happened in Niger in 2022.
Niger is a neighbouring country to Nigeria. Locals told this reporter that a fighter plane from the Nigerian Air Force was believed to have dropped a bomb on Sakotoku village in the Damboa local government area of Borno state, killing at least 17 people.
Women and children, who were allegedly playing under mango trees, were among those killed, according to the locals.
According to military officials, the air force was warned on an afternoon that Boko Haram terrorists were congregating near the area.
The alleged target was a region in Korongilum, a nearby village 12 kilometers away, where alleged Boko Haram militants had assembled, according to a source.
One of the individuals added, "We don't know if they had poor communication with the ground soldiers as the air force plane fired that bomb on the settlement."
The voice continued, "17 individuals, largely mothers and their kids playing beneath mango trees, were slain.
"Many more sustained injuries and were transported to the 25th army brigade in Damboa; those who sustained serious injuries were transported to Maiduguri."
Neighbouring country’s experience
There was a similar attack that left both countries speechless on Friday, February 18, 2022. A bomb blast left 12 people, including children, dead.
It happened a few kilometres from the border with Nigeria, said Chaibou Aboubacar, the governor of Maradi.
The dust was raised, and the residents of Nachade, in the region of Maradi, Niger, scampered for safety.
Aboubacar summarily said it was a mistake by a Nigerian military jet fighter fighting terrorists.
"There had been a mistake with the Nigerian border attacks that led to casualties on our territory in the village of Nachade.
"Twelve children were hurt or killed, including seven under the age of 14.
“The parents were at a ceremony and the kids were probably playing when the strikes occurred," claimed Aboubacar.
Survivors’ tales
Confirmation was that one of these kids kicked the bucket soon after showing up at Madarounfa District Hospital.
Two others kicked the bucket in the wake of being moved to the local medical clinic in Maradi.
A fourth kid, aged 20 months, kicked the bucket in the besieging, according to tales by survivors.
Six others, all grown-ups, supposedly kicked the bucket at the location of the besieging, and two more passed on subsequent to being moved to the emergency clinic in Maradi.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF), a medical aid organization that treated some of the injured, confirmed the strike.
According to the organization, twelve people, including four children, were claimed to have perished.
"This is a terrible occasion, particularly in the Madarounfa locale," said Dr. Souley Harouna, MSF agent in Niger.
The group reported that the harmed kids experienced open breaks, different injuries, and post-awful wounds.
"We helped by performing emergency treatment prior to moving them to the medical clinic in Maradi, yet a portion of the injured didn't get by."
Locals informed MSF that targets were being pursued by Nigerian forces after they fled a border town.
Authorities playing ignorance, survivors’ rebuke
Nevertheless, in a swift reaction, the Director of Defense Information for Nigeria, Major General Jimmy Akpor, stated:
"The Nigerian Air Force does not conduct any incursions outside of its national borders as a matter of policy; that is our stance," adding that "an investigation was ongoing."
While there was denial on the part of Nigeria of bombing, the survivors affirmed that a jet originally flew over the village of Nachambé, close to the town of Garin Kaoura in the Madarounfa locale, having a place with the Peuhl ethnic gathering.
The jet then allegedly flew over the villa once more, dropping ammo.
Survivors certified it was a Nigerian plane, chasing after terrorists from a boundary town who had taken cover in the town school.
Explosion
Foretold invasion by insurgents
Like a prophesy foretold, the International Crisis Group (ICG), located in Brussels, expressed concern in April 2021, saying that a third stronghold for hardliner armed groups would establish itself in the Maradi area, preying on local community disputes and the antics of Nigerian gangs.
Hardliners and armed gangs are already fighting Niger on two fronts.
In the South-East of the country are the Nigerian group Boko Haram and its dissident offshoot, the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWAP), while in the west are organizations linked to ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda.
Meanwhile, 100,000 Nigerian refugees have taken up residence in Maradi, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), having escaped the country's ongoing attacks. Many instances of soldiers battling terrorists declining to shoot the dreaded war mongers when they attacked towns in the North-eastof Nigeria have been documented.
For instance, Ibikunle Daramola, NAF representative, talking in opposition to that, said that the NAF couldn't draw in the agitators on the grounds of what was happening in Garkida, Adamawa state, and Korongilum, Borno state, was turbulent, and that they went to great lengths to ensure they wouldn't hit civilians.
35,000 deaths presumed between 2011 and 2022
As per Statista, a Hamburg-based factual information detailing organization, expressed that somewhere in the range of 2011 and 2022, Boko Haram was liable for a huge number of deaths in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger.
Nigeria is the country most impacted by the terrorists' gathering assaults, said the source. States in the North-East register the biggest number of deaths.
It went further to express that Borno is by a long shot the most undermined state in that Boko Haram has caused north of 35,000 deaths.
Among the news on assaults generally present in the media, the grabbing of 276 female students from an optional school in Borno in 2014 got a worldwide reaction.
As of April 2021, nearly 100 young ladies were all missing, while six students were accepted to have kicked the bucket, the source added.
Preventable circumstances
Explosions kill many Nigerians under preventable circumstances and oftentimes, the source of the explosion may not be ascertained.
For instance, the Kano State Police Command and the occupiers of Sabon Gari disagreed over the reason for the explosion recorded there on Tuesday, May 17, 2022.
The explosion caused quakes according to residents in the area of Aba Road early Tuesday morning, killing nine people and injuring many more.
An earlier state police order claimed four people kicked the bucket, which they described as caused by gas explosion.
At that time, nine bodies were found in the rubble of an exploded structure next to an elementary school.
Experts said the deaths were caused following a gas chamber explosion on Aba Road in the Sabon Gari area of the state of Kano.
Mustapha Habib Ahmed, DG of NemaniGERIA, who was present at the scene and assisted in rescue operations, the police judge, Sama'ila Dikko, reported that the explosion was gas explosion that occurred near a kindergarten and primary school.
He said the explosion was likely caused by a nearby welding shop. “The explosion happened on a street near the non-public school, Winners Kids Academy, at about 9:30 a.m.,” said the source.
“As a result, the structure was obliterated and parts of the school destroyed. The collision severed the structure and individuals were covered in rubble, from which four bodies were recovered. No bomb impact. There was a gas chamber explosion."
The shop was located on the ground floor of the structure where the school was located. So when the inflatable exploded, it cut through the structure and injured the pads, they said.
The state government issued another notice through its State Information Commissioner, Muhammad Garba, saying the incident occurred at a pet food store near the school along Road d'Aba in the Sabon Gari area of the government.
However, one observer, Mansur Babajide, said, "It was not a gas explosion but a bomb, due to vibrations of great thickness," suggesting that it was shaking.
The houses are about 5 km away from the explosion scene. According to him, the explosion rocked the premises of his studio, which was located on Burma Road, about 5 km from the site of the explosion.
Another observer living nearby, Luke Okenwa said it was just a gas explosion, indicating that there were no gas cylinder suppliers nearby, which called for increased vigilance to prevent future episodes.
"I, therefore, encourage the various residents of the indigenous group to be more security-conscious and report any new faces in the vicinity to security for proper operation," he said.
Confusion everywhere
After the explosion, the financial professionals in the neighborhood immediately shut down their institutions and moved to the site of the explosion, where they gathered to talk about the unfortunate event.
Sadiya Farouq, Rabbi for Social Development, Disaster Management, and Humanitarian Affairs, said he was stunned by the blast.
Emergency groups and Kano State Government, said, "We encourage key professionals to do something quickly to prevent further explosions and domestic explosions."
After denying, authorities accept bombing children
It was repeatedly denied that it was bombarding children. The State of Nigeria, notwithstanding, on April 21, 2022, confessed to the unintentional killing of six youngsters by a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) jet in a local area in Niger State.
Niger State Foreign Minister Ahmed Ibrahim Matane affirmed the episode to Anadolu Agency on Thursday, adding that the kids were killed in an air strike against innocent citizens oppressors.
As indicated by him, "Indeed, it worked out. The public authority is researching the occurrence, and an examination is in progress to figure out what occurred."
Natives blame authorities
Addressing journalists in the capital Minna, Salis Sambo, representative for the Shiroro Union of Associations (COSA), blamed the NAF for killing six kids and besieging homes in Kurebe, Shiroro local government region.
Sambo said the strikes occurred on April 13. He said youngsters were killed when contenders attempted to bomb the oppressors who hurried into the local area for the sake of security.
Sambo said the youngsters were getting back in the wake of gathering water, adding that the four kids were individuals from the same family.
The parents of two of the six youngsters killed in an air strike by a Nigerian Air Force plane on Wednesday were killed by looters a long time back on Thursday.
Occupants said six youngsters were killed when a Nigerian Air Force stream bombarded their home in Kurebe, Shiroro State Local Government.
"Two different youngsters who lost their lives in the blast lost their parents sometime in the past.
One of them was the little girl of the late Malam Isah Kurebe, and the other was the little girl of the late Malam Adamu Kurebe, who were killed by terrorists a long time back.
"The blameless youngster he left behind is presently being cleared away by a comparable destiny.
“This is the second time something like this has occurred," Sabo said in an explanation.
He added that a man who lost his two daughters and two nieces in the occurrence said there were no desperadoes in the town at the hour of the local area besieging.
"Two gatherings, with two distinct camps; one is associated with the local area through Unguwan Zomo, the other through the Kwantan Yashi region.
"We don't have the foggiest idea why the contender was focusing on villages where local people reside," Sabo said.
As per the assertion, occupants in the area whose homes were obliterated said they were helpless before the extremists.
NAF not correcting their mistake
As though that weren't sufficient enough, and consenting to erroneously bombing blameless individuals, the pilots of the NAF military airplane on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, showed up at some unacceptable directions in the town of Katsina in what they described as a "mishap" when they were designated near a criminal camp nearby.
Misfortune struck on Wednesday when a contender stream worked by the Nigerian Air Force besieged the town of Kunkuna in the Safana Local Government Area in Katsina State, killing an unidentified number of residents.
While the subtleties of the occurrence stayed murky, it was known that the pilots of the tactical plane "unintentionally" mistyped the directions while focusing on a criminal camp in the terrorism affected region.
What can be called non-tactical by the Nigerian army is already too much. A fighter jet also on a mission against Boko Haram extremists in April 2021 mistakenly bombed Nigerian army soldiers, killing more than 20 officers.
Reinforced soldiers from the village of Ngandu were believed to be on their way to Mainok, where the Kaga Local Government Area is stationed in Borno State, which was being attacked by militants from the Islamic State faction led by ISIS and supported by Boko Haram.
Abducted students killed by airstrike
Jam'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihd was previously known as Jam'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihd.
Several Chibok schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram in 2014 and released last year also said three of their classmates were killed by air strikes.
In June 2021, an air raid by NAF Alpha jets carried out around the town of Genu in Niger State resulted in the deaths of several wedding guests.
About 10 villagers were killed after a military plane bombed a village in Yunusari Local Government Area, Yobe State, in September 2021.
A few days later, an Air Force plane dropped a bomb on a Nigerian community in the Lake Chad region.
Bombed children
UN cautions on warfare infringement
It has been a long time since the United Nations General Assembly arranged the main show against terrorism and warfare (on infringement).
Checks uncovered that the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations on the advancement and assurance of basic liberties and crucial opportunities while battling terrorism is one of the 38 part associations of the Anti-Terrorism Treaty.
It stated that every country is involved with the Anti-Terrorism Treaty with its own command to help the execution of the United Nations Global Counterterrorism Strategy and other significant goals of the General Assembly and the Security Council.
"Since 2011, UNODC has been providing support to the Nigerian government and its various relevant ministries and agencies in effectively implementing the 19 universal legal instruments against terrorism, along with the relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions. The implementation of these conventions, protocols, and resolutions is informed by the guidance provided by the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy," reported United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC.
According to those who know better, the United Nations Global Counterterrorism Strategy (A/RES/60/288) is a solitary worldwide device to fortify public, local, and global endeavors to battle terrorism.
The General Assembly however surveys the procedure like clockwork, making it a living report in accordance with the counterterrorism needs of member states.
According to the source, for example, "UNODC works closely with the Nigerian government to strengthen rule-of-law-based criminal justice responses to terrorism. UNODC delivers capacity-building support to law enforcement officials, legal advisors, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges; provides technical assistance to policymakers on the legal and policy framework related to terrorism; and works with local partners to prevent and counter violent extremism."
For quite a while back, the Security Council forced sanctions on Libya for allegedly funding demonstrations of terrorism. The September 11, 2001 assaults prompted a rush of United Nations measures to manage the terrorism danger.
Nigeria may be the reason of many resolutions
What is happening in Nigeria may be why the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has passed several resolutions recognizing the global role of INTERPOL in the fight against terrorism and especially the threat posed by foreign terrorism.
INTERPOL's agreement with the Executive Committee of the United Nations Commission on Terrorism (CTED) means that the two agencies can work closely together to implement UNSC resolutions.
The INTERPOL-United Nations Security Council Special Notice is used to alert member states to individuals and entities with links to Al-Qaida and the Taliban, according to the 1267 Committee's list of the United Nations Security Council.
INTERPOL has also signed an agreement with the UNODC on operations against organized crime and terrorism.
What's more, a decade prior, the United Nations General Assembly took on a worldwide counter-terrorism oppression procedure. This effort will attempt to assess the impact of the general counterterrorism efforts of the United Nations.
"Key partners for UNODC's work in this area include, among others, the Nigerian Office of the National Security Adviser, the Federal Ministry of Justice, Department of State Services, Nigeria Police Force, the Federal High Court, the National Judicial Institute, the Nigerian Bar Association, the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, the Federal Ministry of Women's Affairs and Social Development, as well as the Defence Headquarters," said reports.
The United Nations' work on counter-terrorism and oppression lately can be coordinated under three headings: First, the standard-setting job incorporates (a) improvement and advancement of a worldwide counterterrorism procedure.
Request and efforts against ferocious fanaticism; b) a slew of global events; and c) aggressive Security Council goals imposing counter-psychological oppression commitments on Member States; second, limit building exercises to assist nations in meeting those commitments; and third, Security Council sanctions imposed on states that supported illegal intimidation in the 1990s and, since September 11, on many people and organizations linked to Al-Qaida.
Although the UN assumes a significant and valuable part in setting norms and structures for collaboration, its most significant functional commitment at last might wind up in a space that isn't covered by the UN's counterterrorism warfare system; explicitly its work in compromise in nations where terrorist groups look to take advantage of broad instability like Nigeria.
· Odimegwu Onwumere writes from Rivers state via: [email protected]