We Need Answers, Not Condolences — Sheikh Gumi Demands Senate Probe Into Jilli Airstrike as NAF Orders Investigation

Islamic cleric Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has demanded an urgent Senate investigation into the Nigerian Air Force airstrike that killed dozens of civilians at Jilli village near the Borno-Yobe border, arguing that repeated apologies from the military are no longer enough.

Gumi, in a statement posted on his Facebook page on Sunday, questioned the accountability of those responsible for the operation. “Who are the pilots behind these bomb releases on innocent locals?” he asked, citing a pattern of similar incidents in Tudun Biri, Nasarawa, and Sokoto.

“Terror cannot be fought with another terror,” Gumi said. “There should be an immediate Senate hearing on these so-called mistakes on bombing villages, markets, and civilian targets. We need answers, not condolences.”

NAF launches formal investigation

Hours after Gumi’s statement, the Nigerian Air Force said it had taken note of reports that the April 11 airstrike may have affected a local market. The Chief of the Air Staff directed the immediate activation of the Civilian Harm Accident and Investigation Cell to proceed to the location on a fact-finding mission.

Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, Director of Public Relations and Information at NAF Headquarters, said the force treats all reports of possible civilian harm with the “utmost seriousness and empathy,” and urged the public to refrain from speculation while the review proceeds.

Military defends strike

The military has challenged the civilian casualty narrative. Lt. Col. Sanni Uba, Media Information Officer of Operation HADIN KAI, described Jilli as a “known terrorist enclave and logistics hub” and said the strike followed sustained intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions that tracked suspected ISWAP fighters, motorcycles, and gun trucks converging on the area.

Uba cited a January 2026 IED attack that killed eight soldiers in the same area, and said that on the day of the strike, ISR coverage observed motorcycles and vehicles moving toward Jilli before “credible human intelligence sources” confirmed the converging elements were terrorists and their logistics handlers.

A terrorist logistics courier identified as “Turja Bulu” was arrested on Sunday at Ngamdu Town, Uba said. The courier confessed to participating in the April 9 attack on troops at Benisheik and had been dispatched from Jilli to deliver food to another group of terrorists near the Magumeri-Gubio area.

Zulum backs military, says market was closed

Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum backed the military operation, stating that the Jilli market had been closed for five years by the Borno State Government and that the area was a notorious hub used by insurgents and their logistics suppliers.

“I have been properly briefed on the airstrike carried out by the Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai on Jilli market,” Zulum said in a statement through his Special Adviser on Media, Dauda Iliya. “Let me state categorically that the Borno State Government closed Jilli and Gazabure markets five years ago.”

However, a local councillor, Lawan Zannah, confirmed that the strike occurred while trading activities were ongoing at the weekly market, with at least 30 people killed and more than 20 hospitalised. The gap between the governor’s claim and local accounts raises questions about whether the market was truly non-operational or whether people had returned to trade despite the official closure.

A pattern of civilian casualties

The Jilli airstrike is the latest in a string of incidents where Nigerian military operations have killed civilians. From 2017 to date, over 400 unarmed civilians have been killed in accidental bombings, according to Daily Post. These include the 2017 Rann IDP camp bombing that killed 115 people including six Red Cross workers, the December 2023 Tudun Biri bombing during Maulud celebrations that killed at least 120 civilians, the 2022 Mutumji airstrike in Zamfara that killed 64, and the January 2023 Nasarawa strike that killed 50 herders.

Gumi’s call for Senate hearings taps into genuine public frustration with a military that repeatedly describes civilian deaths as mistakes while conducting operations in populated areas based on what it calls credible intelligence.

Sources: Vanguard, Punch, Daily Post, Premium Times