Prof Usman Yusuf NEF chief
Prof Usman Yusuf, a member of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), has called for the resignation of military top brass over an accidental bombing that killed 85 villagers and injured several others at Tudun Biri village in the Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State on Sunday.
While speaking on Channels Television Politics Today programme on Tuesday, the NEF chief described the incident as “irresponsible,” regretting that the military which ought to protect Nigerians against external threats was now killing the same Nigerians.
He recommended that all the military chiefs should resign.
“They will all resign; everybody in the chain of command will be fired. The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), everybody will go and the President will cut his trip and return home.
“All of them should go: the CDS, the Chief of Army Staff, the GOC, the operatives, heads must roll.”
The sad incident has thrown the nation into mourning with the Defence headquarters taking responsibility for the misadventure.
Yusuf called for an independent investigation into the matter, stressing that “the Army cannot investigate itself; there should be a high-powered, independent committee headed by a retired CJN (Chief Justice of Nigeria) and in there, there should be a service chief.”
Aside loss of lives and grief that the incident caused, he warned that foreign countries would be hesitant about selling arms to the Nigerian military “when they are dropping it on our people”.
Recall that after the Sunday incident, both the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Christopher Musa and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja visited deceaseds’ families and the families injured ones in hospitals in Kaduna on Tuesday.
The two service chiefs described the accident as regrettable and apologised to the people of the state, promising them that such accident won’t recur.
