Talking throughout an interview on Come up TV yesterday, following a high-level safety assembly chaired by President Bola Tinubu, Musa maintained that the strike was primarily based on credible intelligence and focused a identified hub for terrorist logistics and provides.
He stated: “There was no harmless particular person there. Anyone in that location knew what they have been doing. They have been there for enterprise with terrorists.”
The airstrike, which has drawn criticism amid stories of civilian casualties, has sparked renewed debate over Nigeria’s counterinsurgency techniques and the fragile steadiness between army necessity and civilian safety.
However Musa dismissed ideas of operational error or defective intelligence, insisting that the army acted on verified data and struck on the proper time.
“We moved primarily based on intelligence, we recognized the situation, and we hit the goal. It was a deliberate operation,” he stated.
In keeping with him, the Jilli space had lengthy been designated a no-go zone because of its use by insurgents and their collaborators. He defined that the situation served as a market the place people equipped meals, gas, and supplies to terrorist {groups} working within the area.
“That place isn’t a standard civilian market,” Musa said. “It’s a level the place terrorists meet with those that assist them—individuals who usher in provides, together with gadgets used to maintain their operations.” he stated.
He argued that {economic} incentives have pushed people into such actions, noting that merchants might make important income by promoting items to insurgents in distant areas.
“When you take a bag of rice there, you’ll be able to promote it for as a lot as N150,000. The attraction is big. Folks go there intentionally to become profitable, totally conscious of who they’re coping with,” he stated.
Musa pressured that people who knowingly present logistics or {financial} assist to insurgents can’t be labeled as harmless civilians below the legal guidelines of armed battle.
“He who helps a terrorist is one among them,” he declared. “Your actions allow them to outlive, to battle, and to kill others. That makes you a part of the system.”
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The Defence Minister acknowledged that the excellence between civilians and combatants may be advanced in uneven warfare however insisted that the army stays cautious in its focusing on choices.
He, nevertheless, drew a transparent line between these coerced into cooperation and those that willingly interact with insurgents for revenue.
“There are people who find themselves pressured, who’re victims themselves—that’s totally different,” Musa stated. “However those that willingly go into these areas to commerce with terrorists aren’t harmless. They made that selection.”
Stories following the strike instructed that dozens of individuals might have been killed, elevating considerations amongst rights {groups} and native communities. Nevertheless, Musa questioned the credibility of such claims, noting the absence of verifiable proof.
“Did anyone present footage? Did anybody verify these numbers?” he requested, casting doubt on casualty figures circulating within the media.
He additionally referenced suggestions from native authorities, together with regional leaders conversant in the world, to assist his place that Jilli was not a standard civilian settlement.
“Anyone who is aware of that space understands what it represents. It had been evacuated. So what have been individuals doing there?” he queried.
Musa additional argued that continued collaboration between civilians and insurgents is a significant factor prolonging the battle within the North-East, stressing that reducing off such assist networks would considerably weaken terrorist {groups}.
“These logisticians are those sustaining them. With out them, the terrorists can’t function,” he stated. “If Nigerians collectively refuse to assist these {groups}, this struggle can finish a lot quicker.”
The Defence Minister additionally warned that people who expose themselves by participating with insurgents threat being caught in army operations.
“When you make your self out there in that atmosphere, you change into a part of the threat panorama,” he stated.