Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) has demanded the federal government of Nigeria must pay compensation to victims of accidental military airstrikes in the country.
Falana in a statement on Sunday said the government must pay the compensation to victims of military airstrikes in the past seven years within two weeks or risk being taken to court.
Speaking at a time the nation is still reeling from the impact of the December 3 accidental military airstrike in Tudun Biri in Igabi LGA of Kaduna State where several villagers were killed in airstrikes said to be targeted at terrorists, Falana recalled that victims of the Rann bombing of January 2017 were also yet to get compensation from the government.
He lamented that the federal government has neither published the report nor implemented the recommendations of the commission on the Rann incident headed by Justice Biobell Georgewill of the Court of Appeal.
The lawyer therefore called on the government to publish the findings of the Georgewill Judicial Commission and compensate the victims or families of those affected by accidental military airstrikes in the country.
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“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,” Falana said.
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