By Deborah Onyofufeke, Abuja
The families of the 53 deceased victims of the Kaduna Nigerian Army airstrike have dragged the Federal Government to court demanding compensation of N33bn over the loss of their loved ones.
The fundamental rights enforcement suit which was filed by a representative of the victims’ families, Dalhatu Salihu, at the Federal High Court in Kaduna blamed the Federal Government for the death of the victims.
The plaintiff, in the suit, sought an order for the enforcement of the fundamental rights to life of all 53 airstrike victims; Sani Sulaiman, Salima Abdurrahman, Ibrahim Idris, and 50 others.
Listed as defendants in the suit filed on December 8, 2023, are the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Attorney-General of the Federation, and the Chief of Army Staff.
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The lawyer to the plaintiff, Mukhtar Usman, predicated his argument on relevant sections of the Fundamental Rights Enforcement Procedure Rules 2009, the Nigerian constitution, and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.
He prayed the court to declare that the “act of striking dead by way of aerial bombardment of the deceased victims,” who were celebrating an Islamic event at their village by the military “amounts to an infringement of the deceased victims’ fundamental rights to life” as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution and international legal instruments.
The plaintiff asked the court to declare the military airstrike “illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional.”
He demanded N33bn compensation against the government to be paid to the relations of the deceased victims as exemplary damages for their arbitrary, unlawful, and unconstitutional killing.”
The plaintiff also urged the court to declare a 10 per cent interest rate per annum from the date of the delivery of the judgement until the judgement sum is fully liquidated.
He equally held that a public apology from the government over the killings should be tendered and published in three national dailies in Nigeria.
In an affidavit filed in support of the suit, the plaintiff, Salihu detailed how the December 3 airstrike ended the lives of innocent citizens and at the same time left several injured.
He explained that the Nigerian military had been involved in counter-insurgency operations in the North-Eastern region of the country and Kaduna State.
He said the deceased were residents of his ancestral home, Tudun Biri until December 3 when they died of the bomb dropped by Nigerian Army aircraft.
The plaintiff, who said he witnessed the incident, narrated that the deceased, mostly women and children, had gathered in front of Liman Tudun Biri House to perform an annual ritual of celebrating Maulud- the birth of Prophet Muhammad- on the night of 3 December being Sunday.
He further explained that amidst their ritual, they suddenly heard a loud vibrating sound from the Nigerian Army aircraft that routinely conducts military operations. This time, with live bombs dropping onto their gathering and hitting people indiscriminately.
He said he was one of the lucky few as he was able to scamper to safety, escaping the firing of bombs from the army aircraft that was hovering above them.
He added that after 15 minutes of trying to rescue the injured and evacuate the dead, a second strike from the military aircraft “dropped numerous bombs on them, killing many others instantly.”
He further added that after an hour of the tragic incident, the villagers summoned courage to rescue the victims of the bombing.
He said this was when they discovered that about 93 people had been killed by the bombs dropped from the aircraft belonging to the Nigerian Army.
Although the case has not been assigned to any judge, it was learnt that the court papers had been served on all the defendants except the Nigerian Army.
Recall that the Army admitted its error in the bombing, which it said was based on intelligence suggesting the movement of terrorists around the community.
No fewer than 100 persons had reportedly died in the ill-fated incident.
