By Chuks Oyema-Aziken
The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Gwabin Musa, has assured that probe into the unfortunate death of some residents of Tudun Biri, Kaduna State as a result of drone strike will be transparent.
The CDS stated this while fielding questions from Defence Correspondents at the maiden interaction with the media on Friday.
He described the incident as highly regrettable and promised that the Armed Forces of Nigeria would also punish any personnel found culpable in the incident after the conclusion of the independent investigation ordered by President Bola Tinubu.
“Our task and our mandate is to protect civilians, not to kill, maim or destroy anything. At that particular time, we were on the heat of pursuing some bandits within that general area and unfortunately this happened.
“I am happy the President, Commander-in-Chief has instituted a committee that will look into it critically so that they can also advise how to move forward and how to prevent in future. And then whatever it is, we will know the casualty so that they can also be compensated.
“I assure all Nigerians that the armed forces of Nigeria is here for Nigerians and we want Nigerians to take ownership of the armed forces of Nigeria,” he said.
General Musa also gave assurance that whatever the ongoing investigation reveals would determine who would be punished for the mishap, adding that the military authority would wait for the outcome.
He said that the military as a disciplined organisation would not shield any officer found culpable in the incident. If they are found guilty there will be definitely face punishment and I can assure you that we are going to be transparent about it.
“The members of the committee will not even be members of serving armed forces so that we can have that fairness in the process. I am sure you know in Maiduguri we have jailed a lot of personnel and you can go and verify. In the armed forces, we do not shield offenders. You commit an offence, you go for it and that is why you see we have that level of discipline,” he said.
The CDS also urged Nigerian to await the outcome of the investigation to be able to know exactly what happened, adding that the investigation would reveal a lot of facts about the area
