Renowned Islamic Scholar, who resides in Kaduna State, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has claimed that the Sunday’s bombing by the Nigerian Army using drone in Tudun Biri of Igabi Local Government Area of the State which claimed over 120 lives was intentional.
The incident claimed the lives of Innocent citizens, including women and children, on Sunday night as they were celebrating Maulud while over 60 others were left injured in the community located in Igabi Local government area of the state.
Gumi maintained that it was wrong to target women and children, including the elderly during war, saying yet the military decided to do otherwise, thinking they were families of terrorists.
Sheikh Gumi, who spoke while delivering his weekly lecture at the Sultan Bello Mosque, Kaduna, questioned that if the first bomb dropped on the people was a mistake as claimed, what of the second bomb that targeted those evacuating the bodies 30 minutes after as claimed by the villagers.
According to him, it was God that exposed some of the atrocities committed by the military in the forest, saying he had been calling on the people that innocent villagers are victims of the security bombardments in the forest but nobody listened.
He said, “I kept telling you not to invite people who see war as a solution but people refused to listen. Here it’s now. War is never a joke because it affects everybody. I warned you on this but you keep saying they should be killed.
“It’s you that will be killed. That bomb was meant to target the families of some people so as to kill their children and wives. I have been to a village where women and children were massacred in a remote forest.
Many people have been bombed. Nobody said anything until it came nearer to the city. I have been saying that whatever is between us, whether it is bandits or Boko Haram, there should be peaceful negotiation.”
Officers grumble over ‘lack of synergy’ between army, Air Force.
Meanwhile, there is growing disquiet in the Nigerian Army and Nigeria Air Force, following the recent bombing of innocent citizens of Tudun Biri.
Credible sources told the Daily Trust that the air force was disappointed with the army for dispatching its unmanned drone that led to the ill-fated operation.
The Nigerian Army had since admitted responsibility for the bombing while explaining that the airstrikes were inadvertent and the operatives were targeting terrorists. Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Taoheed Lagbaja had also visited the scene of the incident to commiserate with the district head, clerics and relatives of the victims, where he supported the victims with relief materials including cash reward of N10m.
|Daily Trust
