PUNCH
SOLOMON ODENIYI reports that no fewer than nine air strikes, which were targeted at bandits and terrorists, have accidentally hit wrong targets and sent many Nigerians to their early graves
Some herders from Nasarawa State went to Makurdi, the Benue State capital to recover 1,250 cows impounded by the state Livestock Guards, unaware they would never return.
The Nigerian Air Force, believing they were terrorists, rained bombs on them, killing around 27 herders instantly. The death toll from the incident has risen to 40, while the doctors are still battling to save the lives of four persons injured during the air raid.
Narrating what transpired in a statement, the President of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, Baba Othman Ngelzarma, said, “The pastoralists went to Makurdi to retrieve their 1,250 livestock earlier impounded by the Benue State livestock guards after paying a fine of N29m.
“They hired vehicles from Makurdi to convey back their seized livestock to Rukubi, and it was in the process of offloading their livestock that an attack was conducted that killed 31 pastoralists, eight Hausa butchers from Benue who had escorted the vehicles to upload the cows, and four others are now on admission in Lafia Hospital.”
A day before the Nasarawa incident, there was a case of mishit by the Nigerian Air Force in Niger, where some special hunters and residents were killed. The incident, according to the Niger State Government, has rendered over 8,000 residents homeless.
Aside from these incidents, the Air Force’s accidental airstrikes on civilians have thrown several families into mourning. The development has, however, become a source of great concern for Nigerians and security experts.
