Amnesty International reported in January that fighter jets sent by the Nigerian Air Force fired rockets at villages where Fulani herdsmen were attacking Christian residents and were responsible for at least 35 deaths.
The Nigerian Air Force confirmed that jets were dispatched in December, but said they were instructed to fire only ‘warning shots’ to deter spiralling communal violence.
In response, Osai Ojigho, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, said: ‘Launching air raids is not a legitimate law-enforcement method by anyone’s standard. Such reckless use of deadly force is unlawful, outrageous and lays bare the Nigerian military’s shocking disregard for the lives of those it supposedly exists to protect.’
Amnesty interviewed witnesses in five villages subjected to the December air raids in the country’s north-eastern Adamawa State: Lawaru, Dong, Kodomti, Shafaron and Nzuruwei. Locals provided the agency with 86 names of people they said were killed that day, and those involved in burying the victims said that 51 had gunshot or machete wounds. The highest number of fatalities occurred in the villages of Dong and Lawaru, and Amnesty said that across the five villages 3,000 homes were destroyed.
Call for justice
Amnesty published photographs of scorched homes with their roofs burnt off, and whole areas of villages that, it believes, were razed.
‘The Nigerian authorities must investigate these attacks and, where these investigations indicate criminal responsibility, prosecute those responsible and bring them to justice,’ said Ojigho.
Amnesty’s report is consistent with findings from Christian organisations in the area. More than 3,000 residents fled the villages and sought refuge in other Numan villages and in neighbouring Gombe State.
