Dear Chief of Air Staff,
REPEATED ERRONEOUS AIRSTRIKES AND THE CONTINUED KILLING OF INNOCENT CIVILIANS IN NORTHERN NIGERIA
A CALL FOR AN IMMEDIATE END TO THE INCESSANT KILLINGS BY THE NIGERIAN AIR FORCE.
I write to you today with deep sorrow and mounting outrage over yet another tragic incident involving a Nigerian Air Force fighter jet, which, on the 2nd of June 2025, mistakenly killed at least 20 vigilantes during an operation targeting criminal elements in Zamfara State.
This is not an isolated event. On the 11th of January, 2025, at least 16 civilians were similarly killed in Zamfara under the same tragic circumstances. On September 27, 2024, 24 lives were lost in a deadly airstrike in Kaduna State — all allegedly mistaken for bandits.
In 2023, Human Rights Watch documented two significant incidents: one in Nasarawa state, where an airstrike by the air force killed 39 people in January, and another in Tundun Biri of Kaduna state in December, when an army airstrike during a religious celebration resulted in 85 deaths.
In January 2017, at least 112 people were killed when a jet struck a camp housing 40,000 people who had been displaced by jihadist violence in a town near the Cameroonian border. These are but a few among numerous fatal military errors that have resulted in the deaths of innocent Nigerians in the Northwest and North-East since 2017.
The repetition of these so-called “accidents” raises grave questions about the competence of the Nigerian Air Force under your leadership. They reveal a critical failure in military accountability and operational protocols.
It is no longer tenable to dismiss these killings as mere mistakes. A mistake repeated again and again — with devastating consequences — ceases to be a mistake; it becomes a pattern—a pattern of recklessness, negligence, and utter disregard for civilian lives.
Each time, the Air Force issues apologies and promises of compensation. Yet, these hollow gestures do nothing to bring justice to the grieving families who must bury their loved ones: children, parents, spouses, killed by those sworn to protect them.
Many of the victims were not just innocent but were actively contributing to the security of their communities, like the vigilantes killed in Zamfara. This makes their loss not only heartbreaking but also profoundly unjust.
Airstrikes are not and must never be considered a legitimate law enforcement method. The use of such deadly force in civilian areas, without precision or verified intelligence, is unlawful, outrageous, and reflects a shocking disregard for the very people the military is meant to defend. That those responsible continue to walk free without consequence clearly indicates systemic impunity.
To many Nigerians, particularly those in the North who bear the brunt of this violence, these strikes are no longer perceived as accidental but as calculated acts that worsen insecurity rather than resolve it. Whether or not this perception is accurate, it is dangerous and deeply corrosive to public trust.
Therefore, as a concern patriotic citizen of Nigeria, Lawyer, Human right Activist, I call on you, as the Chief of Air Staff, to take urgent and decisive action:
1. Immediately halt all indiscriminate airstrikes in civilian areas;
2. Launch an independent investigation into the most recent and past incidents, including the June 2, 2025 strike;
3. Identify and hold accountable all officers and personnel whose actions or negligence resulted in these killings;
4. Ensure adequate and transparent compensation to all families affected by these unlawful killings and
5. Reform the rules of engagement, airstrike
protocols, and intelligence verification systems to prioritize civilian safety.
Being a military officer is not a license to kill with impunity. The Nigerian Air Force must rise to its constitutional duty to protect the lives and property of all Nigerians — not add to the toll of death and trauma that communities in Northern Nigeria have endured for far too long.
We will not remain silent while our people are bombed into graves by those sworn to protect them. Justice must not only be done — it must be seen to be done.
Hamza N. Dantani, Esq. is a human rights activist based in Kano
