By; IYOKPO J. EGBODO, Abuja.
The House of Representatives has resolved to send 10 Members to Borno over Tuesday’s accidental bombing of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs’) by a Nigerian Air Force fighter jet, with the mandate to commiserate with families of dead as well as the surviving victims .
The delegation was also given the mandate to ascertain the level of emergency assistance needed by the survivors, and the extent to which emergency and health services are being extended to the survivors.
This followed a motion, sponsored under matters of urgent public importance, by Hon. Sani Zoro, who said it was worrisome that we are celebrating the gallantry of the men of our armed forces for the recapture of the Sambisa forest and the dislodgement of Boko Haram insurgents, while the recent incident happened.
“It’s important to ascertain if the incident was as a result of human error or another thing. It’s not yet over until it’s over. Probably the lesson to be learnt from this incident is the need for the country to consider peace-making very important”, the lawmaker lamented.
Also speaking, Chairman of the Committee on Air Force, Hon. Samson Okwu expressed regrets that such a thing could happen at a time when Nigerians are celebrating the successes of the nation’s armed forces over Boko Haram, adding that such mistakes were not peculiar to Nigeria, but that what was needed was a concrete action to forestall a repeat of such.
Spokesman of the House, Hon. Abdulrazak Namdas in his comment also lamented that “Our Armed Forces have tried in the last couple of months. However, this incident was unfortunate. It has affected many IDPs, and some IDPs in other camps are already panicking. The Air Force men should do thorough investigation before they embark on such strike”.
Many more members spoke on the motion, calling for appropriate moves against a repeat of the tragedy, as a minute silence was observed in honour of the dead victims.
