The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Christopher Musa has appealed to Nigerians to back the nation’s troops, emphasizing that they should not be disheartened by the unintentional military bombing incident in Kaduna State.
Approximately eighty-five individuals lost their lives in the air strike in Igabi Local Government Area, with numerous others sustaining injuries, prompting criticism from various sources.
However, the Chief of Defence Staff, acknowledging that troops can make mistakes, has appealed for increased support amid the escalating criticisms following the military accident.
“We should not, by our actions or utterances, demoralise our troops. These guys stay awake so you can sleep,” he said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday. “It is easier for you to say they made a mistake; they’re not doing well. If they pull out of these locations, what happens? We will not even have a country.”
“We understand that generally everybody feels bad. We actually feel bad also. Anytime we have mistakes, we take ownership and we feel extremely bad about it, especially when we lose our own troops in the war,” he added.
“We just want Nigerians to understand that the incident was never deliberate, we will never deliberately target our citizens. Our mandate is to protect innocent Nigerians, and we’ll continue to do that.
“It is unfortunate that out of the 99% successes that we’ve had, this one that we had has given us a lot of negative responses. But we know Nigerians want success, we are succeeding.”
The Nigerian Army had previously issued an apology for the incident, characterizing it as “regrettable.”
Various dignitaries and government officials, including Vice President Kashim Shettima, have visited the accident victims, with some of them providing donations.