A Muslim school teacher, Masud Abdulrasheed, is struggling to come to terms with the killing of his seven-year-old daughter during drone strikes by the Nigerian army during a religious festival in their large but sparsely populated village exactly one year ago.
The army said the bombing was caused by “an intelligence failure”, leading the army to mistake the open-air festival in Tudunbiri for a gathering of jihadist fighters.
“The December 3, 2023 incident was a major tragedy that should not have happened,” military spokesman Major General Edward Buba told the BBC. “The military regrets that incident. And if we could bring back the lives lost, we would.”
Warning: This story contains graphic details that some readers may find disturbing
About 85 people were killed, including Abdulrasheed’s daughter Habeebah, when unmanned drones dropped two bombs on the village in northern Kaduna state.
“The first bomb fell on us around 10 p.m., near a tree where women and children were sitting,” Abdulrasheed recalls. “We ran for safety, but a little later we gathered to help the wounded and also called for help, but the second bomb fell and killed more people.”
Mr Abdulrasheed described Habeebah as “the most caring among my children”.
“She always gave me whatever gift she wanted, even when I didn’t need it,” he told the BBC.
The 36-year-old was one of the organizers of the annual festival known as Maulud, held to celebrate the birth of the Prophet Mohammed.
Many of his students died in the tragedy.
“We saw dead bodies everywhere as if they were sleeping. Body parts were scattered across the tree branches and roofs. We had to put them in bags and bury all the dead in a mass grave.
“There is nothing more devastating than seeing people you invited to a party nearing their end. I am so heartbroken,” Mr Abdulrasheed said.
As the father-of-four spoke to the BBC, he sat his second daughter, Zaharau, next to him on a mat outside their home. He gently pulled up her top, revealing a wound on her stomach.
Masud Abdulrasheed says the hospital has stopped providing free treatment to his daughter [Gift Ufuoma / BBC]
Four-year-old Zaharau was hit by shrapnel. It took at least an hour to get her and the other injured people to the nearest hospital in Kaduna city.
Although she has undergone surgery, her wound is still not completely healed.
“When my daughter and the others who were injured were in the hospital, they were well cared for. We thank the government for this.
“But things changed after they were fired months later. The hospital has refused to continue with their hospitalization [free] treatment. They keep apologizing to us.”
As they walk through Tudunbiri, there is hardly a family that is not affected by the tragedy of that fateful night.
Twenty-year-old Aisha Buhari lost three of her younger brothers. She survived and suffered an injury to her left arm that has yet to heal.
Sitting on a stool, she cried and wiped her tears with her hijab as she recalled her brothers’ last moments.
“That evening I had just finished talking to them and was stepping away when the first bomb hit, only to see their dead bodies lying on the ground moments later,” Ms Buhari said.
“When they rushed me to the hospital, I couldn’t think of anything but my brothers. I cried so much.”
As Mrs. Buhari spoke, she paused to wipe away the pus oozing from her wound.
“There was no house or farm task that I couldn’t do before the incident, but now I can’t do anything properly. I depend on people to help with something as simple as washing clothes,” she said.
Aisha Buhari lost three brothers in the bombing [Gift Ufuoma / BBC]
Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani told the BBC that he would look into the plight of villagers like Mrs Buhari.
“Thank you BBC for this information. I will personally go back to Tudunbiri, and if I find people who still need treatment, I will take care of it,” he promised.
“The instruction I gave was that all the injured should be treated and none of them should be discharged until they fully recover,” he added.
Undeterred by last year’s tragedy, the Muslim faithful in Tudunbiri celebrated the festival again this year, but held it two months earlier.
The occasion also marked the inauguration of a mosque that authorities built for them over the bomb site, as a form of compensation.
Mr Abdulrasheed acts as the mosque’s imam, as the previous one was killed in the airstrikes.
“We are happy with the new mosque, but we can never forget what happened,” Abdulrasheed told the BBC. “Every time I come here, I always think about that day, and I feel depressed. As we celebrate Maulud this year, we also mourn those we have lost.”
The Nigerian army has been fighting armed jihadists and criminals for years, who raid villages in parts of the north and kidnap people for ransom.
This has led to an increase in airstrikes targeting them.
The Nigerian Air Force has acquired “a large number” of new aircraft, Guy Martin, editor of Defense Web, told the BBC.
This included Chinese-built unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones.
“Chinese UAVs are cheaper, making them more accessible. Nearly a third of African countries have acquired UAVs, mainly from Turkey and China,” Martin said, noting that it was UAV attacks that caused the Tudunbiri disaster.
“Intelligence failure, poor coordination and inadequate training of operators are some of the reasons for erroneous attacks. The rapid deployment of UAV technology often exceeds the development of proper training and deployment protocols for military personnel,” Mr. Martin added.
Major General Buba told the BBC that the army was operating in a “challenging and complex” operational environment.
“But we have grown in our equipment and in our deployment of more experienced commanders and troops,” he said.
According to consultancy SBM Intelligence, the Nigerian Air Force carried out 17 accidental airstrikes between January 2017 and September 2024, killing more than 500 people.
Masud Abdulrasheed acts as imam of the new mosque, as the previous one was killed in the airstrikes [Gift Ufuoma / BBC]
“One mistake is enough; When we see hundreds of people dying in mistaken attacks, we should be concerned,” said Anietie Ewang, researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW) Nigeria.
In response, Major General Buba said rights activists should “give us more credit for being more transparent, working with the people and being more accountable for our actions, as especially revealed during the Tudunbiri incident.”
‘We will do everything we can to ensure this never happens [again]Major General Buba added.
He said two army personnel were court-martialled over the incident and while the case was ongoing, the army had redeployed them and relieved them of their command.
Both the federal and state governments have also unveiled development projects for the village as part of efforts to show remorse for the dead, with Sani telling the BBC that construction of a hospital and skills acquisition center was nearing completion.
“We have supported the people of Tudunbiri and we will continue to do so,” he said.
“They are my people,” the governor added.
But in a cruel irony, more than 20 people in the village reported that their farmland had been confiscated for the projects.
Among them is 50-year-old Hashim Abdullahi, who told the BBC: “I am not happy because this hospital has taken my livelihood and I have not received any compensation. I have become unemployed and cannot provide for my family to assure.”
Reacting to this, Sani said: “For the people who actually have land, the Department of Lands in Kaduna is working with the head of the community to ensure that the right people get their land back.”
Nigerian Vice President Kashim Shettima also visited the village after the killings and – in collaboration with the state government – promised justice and financial compensation.
People were told they would receive 2.5 million naira ($1,500; £1,180) for each person killed in their family, while the injured received around 750,000 naira ($500).
“It is a difference that the authorities have actually carried out compensation this time, but there is a feeling that it has been very arbitrary,” Ms Ewang said.
“We need to see the authorities take much-needed action towards justice, accountability and compensation for the victims in all other incidents of airstrikes where they have accepted that it was a mistake,” she added.
Mrs Buhari told the BBC that her family had received 7.5 million naira for her three brothers who were killed, and she received 750,000 naira for her injuries – although this was not enough.
Aisha Buhari struggles to use her left hand after being injured in the airstrikes [Gift Ufuoma / BBC]
“I usually buy medicine from a pharmacy to bandage the wound because that’s all I can afford right now. The hospital is no longer taking care of us. Sometimes the pain was very severe for weeks,” she said.
“We hope that the government will come to our aid again, so that I can get the right care for my arm. I can’t wait to use it again,” Mrs Buhari added.
Mr Abdulrasheed told the BBC that he had received no financial compensation for the injuries suffered by his four-year-old son.
“I always feel worried when I look at her condition,” he said.
He said he had received full financial compensation for the death of his seven-year-old child, but no amount of money could replace her.
“Every time I visit the grave, I think of those we lived with but are now gone. I miss them all. I miss my daughter.”
Additional reporting by BBC’s Yusuf Akinpelu.
[BBC]
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