The federal government of Nigeria says it will conduct a comprehensive investigation into the air strike that led to the deaths of 10 people in Gidan Bisa and Runtuwa villages of Silame Local Government Area.
This is contained in a statement by Abubakar Bawa, chief press secretary to the Sokoto governor, and made available to journalists in Abuja on Saturday.
Grow your business with us
According to Mr Bawa, Bello Matawalle, minister of state for defence, gave the assurance when he paid a condolence visit to Gov. Ahmed Aliyu of Sokoto.
Mr. Bawa quoted Mr. Matawalle as having assured that justice would prevail and reiterated the federal government’s commitment to ensuring that all Nigerians are safe wherever they are.
Mr. Matawalle said it was unfortunate that terrorists were infringing on the peace of Nigerians but assured that the federal government would deal with them decisively.
He extolled Mr. Aliyu’s commitment to the fight against banditry and other criminal activities in Sokoto State.
According to him, Mr. Aliyu is the only governor who willingly requested a military base in his state.
The minister reassured the governor of the military’s support to make Sokoto safe.
“We would continue to provide all the necessary equipment and gadgets to Sokoto State,” he assured.
“Mr President (Bola Tinubu) is worried by the unfortunate incident, and he asked me to come and condole you over what happened,” he said.
The minister blamed the wrong bombing on the wrong information available to the military for the operations.
He, however, said that security reports had confirmed that the area where the incident happened was being dominated by the Lakurawa bandits.
Responding, Mr. Aliyu called on the military to improve on their information gathering and surveillance so as to avoid hitting the wrong targets.
He commended the military and other security agencies for their commitment to making the state safe and thanked President Bola Tinubu for the concern he has shown over the incident in the state.
The governor also thanked him for his support of the state in the fight against banditry.
He described the incident as something destined to happen and prayed to Almighty Allah to prevent its recurrence.
He described what happened in the two villages as very unfortunate and assured that thorough investigations would be conducted to find out what really happened.
(NAN)