General Christopher Musa, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), said the inquiry into the Kaduna unintentional military airstrike is proceeding and that those responsible will be punished.
Eighty-five people were confirmed dead in the accidental air strike in the Igabi council area of the North-West state some weeks back with scores injured.
Following the event, President Bola Tinubu ordered an investigation, with the CDS promising that anyone found to be responsible would face the law.
“The Armed Forces of Nigeria is solidly behind the government and Nigeria. Our mandate is to defend democracy and we will continue to do that. So, nobody should have any fear. We would make amends after the committee [to probe the matter] has come up [with its report]. Anybody who is found culpable will face the music,” he said on Tuesday’s edition of Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
According to him, once the investigation is over, the outcome will be made public.
“We are sincere, we are fair, we are impartial. We want to know what actually happened so that we can make amends. I can assure you that nothing will be swept under the carpet,” the CDS said on the breakfast show.
He also apologised for the airstrike, saying the Army “feel extremely very bad about it” and that the “incident was never deliberate”.
“Anytime we have mistakes, we take ownership and we feel extremely very bad about it especially when we lose our troops in war,” General Christopher added, calling on Nigerians not to continue in their support of troops to win the war against banditry and other crimes.
“We just want Nigerians to understand that the incident was never deliberate. We would never deliberately target our citizens. Our mandate is to protect Nigerians and we will continue to do that.”
The latest military airstrike also drew condemnations from rights groups who are calling on the Army to review its engagement and operating procedures to ensure such incidents do not happen again and to compensate the victims and their families.
Since the incident, several top government dignitaries and public figures have visited the victims in the North-West State.
Vice President Kashim Shettima and Labour Party’s Peter Obi were among the first set of persons to visit the victims. There have also been donations to them from several quarters.
Nigeria’s armed forces often rely on air strikes in their battle against bandit militias in the North-West and North-East of the country, where jihadists have been fighting for more than a decade.