Tudun Biri Massacre
OpenLife Nigeria reproduces a piece by Dr. Abubakar Alkali, a politician, communication strategist and public affairs analyst, who views the bombing of over 100 worshippers in Kaduna as unwarranted and calls for the sack of service chiefs including the Inspector General of Police
Unfortunate is such a soft word to use to describe the bombing of over 100 worshippers celebrating the Maulud Nabiy (SAW) event in Tudun Biri, Kaduna state by the military.
Without attempting to jeopardise troop morale in the fight against terror, it is fair to ask whether our military indeed has the capacity to defeat the bandits and terrorists and win the war.
This very clear avoidable but calamitous error by the military that could have been avoided by a simple logic and common sense means Nigerians will have to ask if our military indeed has the mentality and the right training to defeat the bandits and terrorists.
Yes, our military has been on the frontline for us for many years to ensure that we are safe but this latest error of mistaking innocent worshippers including women and children for bandits and dropping bombs on them will have to send all of us on a soul-searching.
The fact that the military initially denied responsibility but later admitted that it dropped the bombs smacks of a failed attempt at cover-up.
It is inexcusable that the Nigerian military with so many years of experience in modern warfare could commit such a grave and unpardonable blunder.
Is this why the bandits and terrorists could not be defeated after so many many years of fighting? Is it because our troops are poorly trained to handle a guerrilla war that bandits and terrorists are holding the nation to ransom?
To drop bombs on innocent villagers and kill over 100 of them in the name of going after bandits is incomprehensible.
The carnage reveals that the military high command is inefficient and ill equipped mentally and psychologically to lead the war against terrorism hence all the service chiefs including the chief of defence staff (CDS) and inspector general of police (IGP) should resign or be shown the exit door so that a new leadership with the right mentality will take over.
In saner climes, the military high command under whose nose this massacre happened will not stay 24 hours on their seats.
Equally important is the need to institute a judicial panel of inquiry to investigate this massacre and to prosecute anyone -military or civilian- who is found wanting in this unprecedented carnage.
May Allah (SWT) grant Aljanna Firdaus to all those who lost their life in the barbaric attack, Amin.
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