The Nigerian Air Force has remained inexplicably silent 48 hours after one of its fighter jets allegedly bombarded a community and killed 27 pastoralists, amid what a source described as curious celebration around the contiguous communities over the morbid mistake.
On its open platforms, the air force has not explained what happened while the expected press statement of the tragic event has not been issued.
The bewildering position of the NAF comes as PRNigeria, an online newspaper that reports security matters, disclosed that the bombing in Kwatiri community of Doma Local Government Area of Nasarawa State was ordered after the Military High Command received credible intelligence that some terrorists moved into some communities around the boundary between Nasarawa and Benue states.
The publication disclosed that a joint operation involving the military, security and intelligence components was mobilized to go and take out the terrorists only for a particular state government official (name withheld) to give the team a wrong location, leading to the bombing of the innocent herdsmen.
Another source told Everyday.ng: “What is further confounding is the celebration of the deaths by some community folks in the state, who expressed happiness that it did not matter to them those that were killed because they are all one and the same who terrorise them there.
“Efforts are on to find out if the misdirection to the Air Force bombers by the unnamed state government official was deliberate or a honest mistake.”
On Wednesday, the Police Command in Nasarawa State has confirmed the alleged killing of 27 pastoralists in an ‘airstrike’ in Doma Local Government Area of the State.
DSP Ramhan Nansel, the Command’s Public Relations Officer (PPRO), confirmed the development and casualty figure to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lafia.
Nansel said that preliminary investigation revealed that the pastoralists had on Tuesday, gone to Benue to pay fines for the release of cattle impounded by the Benue Livestock Guards implementing the State’s Anti-Open Grazing and Ranching Law.
He said: “While they were loading some of the cows into vehicles on Tuesday night in Kwatiri village, a border community between Benue and Nasarawa, something like a drone or an aircraft hovered in the air and shelled them.”
Nansel said the Commissioner of Police, Maiyaki Mohammed-Baba, had visited the scene of the incident and also attended the burial of the deceased alongside the State Deputy Governor, Dr Emmanuel Akabe and some traditional rulers.
He said investigation was ongoing to unravel those behind the act, adding that the command had deployed policemen to the area to prevent the breakdown of law and order.
Gov. Abdullahi Sule had since condemned the dastardly act, saying that he was in touch with his Benue counterpart over the matter as security agencies continued their investigations.
He called on the people to remain calm and not take laws into their own hands.
The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) had also condemned the alleged killing and called for full investigation to unravel those behind the attack.
MACBAN, in a statement made available to NAN by its National Public Relations Officer, Muhammad Nura, said “this is the third time we are experiencing such happenings.”
He said that apart from the victims, livestock were also killed in the attack.
“MACBAN describes the action as not only condemnable but a war crime under the Geneva Convention that prohibits the wanton killing of livestock.
“We call on the authorities to investigate this terror, punish the culprits and to be sure that incidents like this will not happen again,” the Nura said.