The accidental air strike on a civilian settlement in Borno State has continued to generate more reactions from within and outside Nigeria.
This time, a national security expert urged Nigerians not to blame the military for the attack, saying such mistakes had occurred even in more diplomatic countries.
Mr Max Gbanite believes that the incident could be as a result of lack of coordination in some cases, stressing that such error was unavoidable.
Making An Excuse For Air Force
“Remember that visibility is an issues in the Sambisa forest area. (It is) for the first time since the war started (that) such error was made (and) it’s not unlikely that such error could happen in any war that is being prosecuted in anywhere in the world.
“I’m not trying to make an excuse for the Nigerian Air Force, (but) we’ve had that happen in Afghanistan when U.S. drones bombed a hospital by mistake. We’ve (also) seen it in Syria where Russian and U.S aircraft bomb hospitals by mistake.
“It is lack of coordination sometimes and again these are technologies that are using more precise bombing than what we are using today,” he explained.
We Can’t Blame Our Air Force
The security expert, however, stated that the military would account for the mistake, saying he was quite sure that the Nigerian Air Force authorities would address the issue fairly.
He urged Nigerians not to hazard the motive behind the mistake yet, but to wait until the military had concluded its investigation.
“We have been fighting this war for the past five years and this (error) just happened now. I think we can’t blame our Air Force but we should wait and hear from the military to know precisely what really happened.
“We need to be patient; they are going to account for this and if there was a mistake on the part of the Air Force, I’m quite sure the Chief of Air Staff will make sure something is done about this,” Mr Gbanite said on Sunrise Daily.
