Villagers Drag Tinubu Govt To Court Over Kaduna Massacre, Make Demand

Villagers of Tudun Biri in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State have sued the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Federal Government, demanding N33 billion compensation over the recent army airstrikes that killed over 100 persons at the village.

It would be recalled that many civilians were mistakenly killed and several others injured when a drone strike from the Nigerian Army hit them while celebrating mahlud in Tudun Biri village of Kaduna State.

Following the incident, which happened penultimate Sunday night during a Maulud celebration, President Tinubu ordered an investigation into the massacre and warned that it must never happen again.

The suit was filed on December 8 before a Federal High Court in Kaduna by Alhaji Dalhatu Salihu on behalf of Tudun Biri villagers through their counsel, Mukhtar Usman Esq.

The villagers are also demanding an apology to be published in at least three national dailies.

According to Daily Trust, they said the suit was to enforce the fundamental rights to life of the survivors of the incident.

Among the reliefs sought is “a declaration that the act of striking dead, by way of aerial bombardment of the deceased victims herein while celebrating the Islamic Maulud at their village of Tudun Biri in Igabi Local Government Area on the 3rd day of December 2023 by the personnel under the command and supervision of the 3rd respondent (the Chief of Army Staff) amounts to a violation of the deceased victims’ fundamental rights to life as enshrined in Section 33 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and Article 10(1) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification Enforcement) Act (Cap 10) LFN 2010 and hence ultra vires the respondents, illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional.”

Naija News reports that no date has been fixed for the hearing.