An airstrike by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) hit a border market in Jilli, a Yobe State suburb adjacent to Borno, on Saturday evening. The market, frequented by cross-border traders, was targeted during peak trading hours. Local sources report several civilians were injured and taken to hospitals in Geidam. Ibraheem Geidam, councillor of Jilli ward, urged residents to donate blood for the wounded. The exact number of fatalities remains unconfirmed. Witnesses claim the military was targeting insurgents collecting levies from traders, but civilians were caught in the bombardment. NAF spokesperson Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame confirmed the operation, describing it as a precision strike on terrorists' locations in the Jilli axis. The operation, part of a coordinated air-ground effort with Nigerian Army troops, followed the destruction of terrorist hideouts. However, the statement made no mention of civilian casualties. Ejodame has not responded to inquiries on the matter. The incident echoes past controversial airstrikes, including one in December in Kukawa, Borno, that killed multiple civilians and destroyed ten vehicles. In Sokoto State in 2024, at least 10 civilians died in a strike on Lakurawa. In 2022, NAF mistakenly killed six minors in Kurebe, Niger State, followed by eight more deaths in the same village months later.
Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame's silence on civilian deaths in the Jilli airstrike speaks volumes — it mirrors a recurring pattern where operational success is declared without public reckoning for collateral damage. The strike occurred in a known commercial zone, active during peak hours, yet the military's narrative focuses solely on targeting insurgents collecting levies. That civilians were injured and blood donations required is not incidental; it is central to understanding the real cost of such operations.
This is not an isolated error but part of a broader trend in Nigeria's counterinsurgency strategy, where intelligence gaps and blurred lines between combatants and civilians lead to tragic outcomes. The Jilli market, like Mararaba in Kukawa or Kurebe in Niger State, is in a region where military action has repeatedly resulted in civilian casualties, often followed by delays or silence on accountability. The Air Force's failure to promptly address these incidents erodes public trust, especially in communities already bearing the brunt of both insurgency and state response.
Ordinary traders, farmers, and residents in border communities face a double vulnerability — to armed groups and to the very forces meant to protect them. Each unacknowledged strike deepens their sense of abandonment. These are not abstract consequences; they affect mothers, children, and breadwinners who depend on daily trade for survival.
A pattern is clear: airstrikes in civilian-populated zones recur, investigations lag, and compensation comes late, if at all. This undermines the legitimacy of military operations in the eyes of the people they aim to secure.
