Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State has said that he was fully aware of the military airstrike in the State which led to the death of vigilantes and civilians, saying that it was not intentional.
Governor Lawal, who commiserated with the families of the victims of the incident, stated during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today that he was aware of the military operation before the tragedy occurred, saying that he personally invited the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) to neutralise some bandits who were attacking the area.
Sixteen residents including vigilantes were killed by a military airstrike in the Tungar Kara community in Maradun Local Government Area (LGA) of the State.
Dauda, who also said that his administration had set up a delegation to assess the situation, stated: “We have been battling issues within the last three days as a result of the airstrike. Let me say this, I have full information on what happened that fateful day, because we made the distress call to the Air Force in terms of some bandits attacking communities, and they quickly responded, and they were able to neutralise a lot of bandits.
“But on the second time when we made the same report, unfortunately some of those communities that came to rescue those under attack, and in the process, they were hit by the Air Force, and I believe it was not intentional.
“It was one of those things in this kind of situation. Sometimes there may be collateral damage and that was what happened in less than three days.
“I set up a powerful delegation led by my Deputy Governor for on-the-spot assessment and to commiserate with the families of those that lost their lives. In the process, what happened was fully explained, and they quite understood it was not intentional.”
Governor Lawal added: “The Chief of Air Staff has set up a committee to commiserate with the state government as well as the people that were affected. They also went there yesterday to do on the spot assessment to see who was involved and what happened to guide against future occurrence.”
During the programme, he expressed hope that the military has all the capacity to tackle bandits activities within one month, noting that the days of notorious bandits leader, Bello Turji, are numbered as he would soon be eliminated just as other top bandits have been neutralised.
