Military top brass came under heavy pressure to resign Tuesday as a member of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Prof Usman Yusuf urged them to step aside over the bombing that killed 85 villagers and injured several others at Tudun Biri village in the Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State on Sunday.
Yusuf made this call in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday.
The NEF member stressed that “All of them should go – the CDS, the Chief of Army Staff, the GOC, the operatives, heads must roll.”
He said, “ in other climes, all military chiefs would have tendered their resignation letters over the accident, which has thrown the country into mourning.
”This is irresponsible. They will all resign; everybody in the chain of command will be fired. The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), everybody will go and the President will cut his trip and return home”, he added.
He lamented that the military, which ought to protect Nigerians against external threats, was killing the people.
Meanwhile, both the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Christopher Musa and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja visited deceased victims’ families and injured ones in hospitals in Kaduna on Tuesday.
The two service chiefs described the accident as regrettable and apologised to the people of the state, promising them that such an accident wouldn’t recur.
The President also commiserated with the people of the state while demanding an investigation into the accident.
However, Yusuf said, “The Army cannot investigate itself; there should be a high-powered, independent committee headed by a retired CJN (Chief Justice of Nigeria) and in there, there should be a service chief.”
He said foreign countries would be hesitant about selling arms to the Nigerian military “when they are dropping them on our people.”.
