Error bombing: From Rann to Tudun Biri – Femi Adeoti Column

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FEMI ADEOTI COLUMN,

And the beat goes on unrestrained. Error bombing all the way. It has come to stay with us. From Rann, Kalabalge Local Government, Borno State, to Tudun Biri, Igabi LG, Kaduna State.
A time lag of six solid years. From Tuesday, January 17, 2017, to Sunday, December 3, 2023. Bloody waters flowed ceaselessly under the bridge of tears, sorrow and death. Tragic!
We are still doing the same thing the same way. And many times over. Nothing changes. Many things are missing. Many things have broken. Ours is an endless circle of calamities.
The same old story. And the shameful sing-song will not depart from their loud mouths. No tact, no finesse. The mistake stubbornly remains the same. And the shame is the same.
Daily Trust was even more daring. It took an audacious step further backward. What it discovered was blood-curdling. Its report was vivid, dreadful:
“No fewer than 416 unarmed citizens have been killed by accidental airstrikes of the Nigerian military within the space of nine years in 16 communities in the northern region of the country.” Startling!
Military error bombing is sometimes unavoidable. But missing the target so often is worrisome. The frequency is on the high side here.
Rann and Tudun Biri excelled of all these careless bombings. The duo stood tall, out and distinct. Unarguably, they were the most devastating since Boko Haram made our space its abode.
No contest. The two have so far sustained the tempo. They are yet to be faulted. They’re the biggest error bombings.
Rann is a small rural town. Then, at least 20,000 were seeking refuge from Boko Haram. But the military mistook its Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp. It saw a terrorist tent not an IDP camp. And the camp wasn’t in their famed Sambisa forest.
All the same, it happened to us in Rann, July 17, 2017. The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) made it possible. That Tuesday, its fighter jet veered off course. It went out of the radar. Wandering about, missing the target.
The jet spotted what it ought not to have spotted. And the unexpected dawned on the pilot. He mistakenly dropped two bombs on civilians. They were not just civilians but refugees, inmates of an IDP camp. Boko Haram remains eternally grateful for that successful carelessness.
Defence spokesman, Major General John Eneche, strived hard to explain it away. He strenuously attributed the blunder to: “Lack of appropriate marking of the IDP camp.
“Because it was not marked an IDP camp, it appeared to be a place for terrorist activities when a mass movement was noticed via satellite.”
His strongest defence: “An IDP camp was not supposed to be built in that community. It was not marked on the operational map.”
NAF knew pretty well, it was running against itself. Precious time wasn’t on its side either. Something must be done, fast. It was in a hurry.
So, NAF hastily put the first casualty figure at a “mere” 70. Nine of them worked for the Nigerian Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Less than a week later, NAF ran back to Rann for updates. Its finding this time around was frightening. NAF spokesman, Ayodele Famuyiwa, was desperate. He had to bring in the Voice of America (VOA).
He confessed to VOA. The death toll had more than quadruple the reported 70. It had undergone a phenomenal change. It reached an all-time high of a staggering 236. Still counting?
Famuyiwa was proud to beat his chest. He vowed. The report of the six-officer investigator would be submitted February 2, 2017. What happened thereafter? We’re in the dark.
Let’s skip years. On December 3, 2023, error bombing came calling again. This time on a peaceful Sunday night. Tudun Biri it was! The Muslim villagers were in their joyous element.
They were in the thick of Maulud celebration. Then an uninvited drone changed the narrative. It turned further darkened the darkness of the night. A resident gave a short, chilling narration. Courtesy, Daily Sun:
“They were celebrating Maulud when the jet dropped the bomb, resulting in the immediate deaths of many residents. There is apprehension that the death toll may increase.”
At least, 85 victims made the mass burial the following day. Chief of Army (COA), Lt. General Taoreed Lagbaja, couldn’t make it. But he was there first thing the following day.
He bared his own side of the story: “On Sunday, December 3, 2023, while the Nigerian Army UAV (unarmed aerial vehicle) platforms were conducting armed reconnaissance around the vicinity of Riyawa, Ruma, the drones observed movement of people suspected to be bandits. And having trailed them for sometime, the decision was taken to strike based on the observation of some tactics usually employed by bandits.
“Unfortunately, the report we got, thereafter, revealed that it was innocent civilians in Tudun Biri that the drone carried out the strike on.”
Before Lagbaja, the army was humble enough to admit the error. Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, told us so:
“The General Officer Commanding (GOC), 1 Division, Nigerian Army (Kaduna), Major V.U. Okoro, explained that the army was on a routine mission against terrorists but inadvertently affected members of the community.”
Yet, NAF would not let that be. Director, Public Relations and Information, NAF, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, was furious. And he didn’t fail to display it:
“The news making the rounds alleging that NAF aircraft accidentally killed innocent civilians in Kaduna is false. NAF has not carried out any air operations within Kaduna State and environs in the last 24 hours.
“Also, NAF is not the only organisation operating combat armed drones in the North Western region of Nigeria.”
Here, he graphically missed his road. He became confused in order to convince: “It is also important to ensure that due diligence is always exhausted by the media before going to press with unverified and unconfirmed reports.”
It’s at the beck and call of any Dick and Harry. They conveniently pick on the media. They assume the media is their albatross. Yes, the source of their frustration and guilt. The media is their whipping boy. The first choice for attacks. Very unfortunate!
A honest takeaway from Tudun Biri is saddening. It widened the huge crack within our security network. It reared its ugly head one more time. We honestly thought that awful era was gone for our collective good.
We goofed. We ought not to have this unnecessary friction. It’s uncalled for. There’s neither wisdom nor gain in it. It is not wise. The earlier we realised this, the better for us all.
Security outfits in saner climes detest in-house rancour and rivalry. They won’t contemplate it, even for a second. They, instead, collaborate and synergise.
But not in our awkward clime. The exact opposite is our horrible lot. It’s one major reason for the growing bombing errors. They are increasing at the speed of light. And we are not paying serious attention to the alarming phenomenon. It has become our local pandemic.
Not that alone. It’s the reason we can’t win a Boko Haram insurgency war since 2009. The greedy among us had ulterior motives. We didn’t know. And we willingly allowed them to decide our fate. They messed us up.
But they turned against us. They made a cash cow out of our predicament. And fortunes out of our misfortunes. Boko Haram, banditry, terrorism, kidnapping have become a viable sub-sector. It is running our fragile and staggering economy.
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What a nation! We forge on as if nothing serious is amiss. Our chequered history makes no sense to us. How we fail to pick useful lessons from our sordid past.
SAD!