The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, has reaffirmed that the Nigerian military conducts airstrikes with precision and does not intentionally target civilian populations.
General Musa spoke on Arise News Channel’s breakfast programme, ‘The Morning Show’, on Monday, which was monitored by our correspondent.
He emphasised that all airstrikes are carefully planned and based on intelligence, but secondary explosions caused by hidden stockpiles of weapons and explosives in targeted areas can inadvertently affect civilians nearby.
“Before we conduct airstrikes, we follow up on movements, and I can tell you, when we do airstrikes, we do it with precision,” he said.
“We cannot rule out secondary explosions because, within areas where they keep these things, they have weapons, bombs, ammunition, and explosives. Sometimes, when these go off, civilians may be affected. But we do not deliberately target civilian populations. We avoid that as much as possible.”
General Musa revealed that every airstrike is preceded by detailed surveillance, including video evidence.
“We have videos that we follow up on before any strike is conducted. What is happening now is that, in the past, we’ve had religious and traditional rulers aggravating the situation by taking advantage of these incidents,” he noted.
He questioned the timing of accusations of accidental airstrikes, suggesting they might be part of a strategy to undermine the military’s progress.
“Maybe the question we should ask is, why is it that every time we are about to make progress, that’s when you hear about accidental airstrikes here and there?” he asked.
The Defence Chief expressed concern that reports of accidental airstrikes might be aimed at demoraliding the military and discrediting its efforts in the fight against insurgency.
“For us, I think it’s just a way of demoralizing the troops and making it look like we don’t know what we are doing,” he said.
He added that the military was investigating all reported incidents of accidental airstrikes to ensure transparency and accountability.
“We are investigating every airstrike they claimed is an accident. Most times, when they say there’s been an airstrike, by the time you get there, they tell you they’ve already buried the people. Why not wait? Let us also come and verify the issue,” he stated.
