Human rights lawyer Femi Falana has given the federal government a two-week deadline to compensate victims of military airstrikes over the last seven years.
Falana issued the warning in a statement on Sunday, adding that if the demand is not met, the federal government will be sued in federal high court.
Over the last few years, the Nigerian military has accidentally bombed over 300 civilians, including children and women.
The most recent occurred on December 3, when many residents of Tudun Biri in Kaduna’s Igabi LGA were killed in airstrikes allegedly targeting terrorists.
The death toll from the erroneous airstrike in Kaduna is now said to have surpassed 120.
Reacting to the incident, Falana, who is the chairman of Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), said there has been no justice for victims of these bombings across the years.
The human rights lawyer said after the Rann bombing of January 2017, the federal government set up a commission “mandated to review extant rules of engagement applicable in the armed forces of Nigeria as well as the extent of compliance with the rules. Part of the mandate of the commission was to also prefer means of preventing violations of international humanitarian and human rights law”.
Falana said the federal government has neither published the report nor implemented the recommendations of the commission headed by Justice Biobell Georgewill of the court of appeal.
The statement reads:
“No doubt, the military authorities accepted responsibility for the airstrikes and claimed that the crashes were caused by ‘accidents’. But no compensation was paid to those who were injured and the families of scores of people who lost their lives in the tragic incidents.”
“The Commission was given 90 days for the assessment. Our law firm represented the victims of the Rann airstrike at the Commission of Enquiry. Upon the conclusion of the assignment, the Commission submitted its report.
“The Federal Government should pay adequate compensation to the victims of all airstrikes that have occurred in Nigeria in the past seven years. If our demand is not met within the next two weeks, we shall sue the Federal Government at the Federal High Court to secure the enforcement of the fundamental right of the victims to life.”
Following the Kaduna bombing, President Bola Tinubu ordered an investigation.
Instead of forming a new panel of inquiry, Falana believes the federal government should publish the findings of the Georgewill Judicial Commission.