By GARBA MUHAMMAD/MARYAM SULEIMAN BELLO, Kaduna

The Northern Coalition of Socio-Political Groups says the religious and political leaders demanding for the sack of the Chief of Defence Staff; the Chief of Army Staff, other service chiefs and the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Division of Nigerian Army are unnecessarily stoking tension.

Alhaji Balarebe Lawal Zaria, Deputy National President of the group, made their position known while reacting to the error bombing that claimed scores of lives in Tudun-Biri area of Kaduna State.

Addressing at a world press conference at the Kaduna Council Secretariat of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) on Friday, December 8, 2023, Lawal Zaria called for peace and tranquility despite the ugly incident.

He said: “As at today, the death toll from the incident as at Wednesday had increased to 127 as officials of Amnesty International who visited the affected communities confirmed the increase in the death toll with scores of injured persons were taken to the Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital in Kaduna.

“For us, the religious and political leaders demanding for the sack the Chief of Defence Staff; the Chief of Army Staff, other service chiefs and the GOC are unnecessarily stirring up tension. We want peace and tranquility to reign despite the ugly incident.”

Balarabe noted that, as a mark of concern, Nigerians have seen both the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, visit deceased victims’ families and injured ones in hospitals in Kaduna.

While expressing sadness over the tragic incident that occurred during a Maulud celebration, Lawal Zaria said that from the information gathered, the Nigerian Army was on a routine mission against terrorists, but inadvertently bombed innocent members of the community leaving several citizens dead and many others injured.

“Meanwhile, we are joining United Nations, ACF, JNI and other organizations to demand full, thorough, honest, and open investigation of the incident, to establish what exactly happened, while we urge the military to review its rules of engagement to avoid the recurrence of an airstrike on a community in Kaduna State that killed several civilians.

“Of course, it is natural for such incident to attract condemnation, little wonder, the pan-Northern political and cultural association, the Arewa Consultative Forum, and the Jama’tu Nasril Islam have added their voices with calls for those found culpable tobe punished.

“However, it is too early and out of place for anyone to give the incident an ethnic or religious colouration when investigations about the circumstances surrounding the bombing are still ongoing.

“We are therefore calling on our brothers from AREWA GROUP to avoid bringing the issue of religion and ethnicity in what happened (bombing at Tudun-Biri),” he added.