It should have been another ordinary Saturday at Jilli market in Yobe State — a weekly gathering where traders sell grain, spices, and household goods, and where children weave between stalls. Then a Nigerian Air Force jet arrived overhead. The pilot was targeting Boko Haram insurgents operating in the area near the Borno border. What the bomb hit instead was the market itself — full of civilians who had nothing to do with terrorism and no warning that danger was coming from the sky.
Amnesty International confirmed the deaths after speaking with survivors and hospital staff, citing a toll of over 40 people. Local sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, put the figure considerably higher — as many as 200 killed and injured. The Nigerian Air Force has not publicly issued a detailed account of what went wrong.
What the government said
President Bola Tinubu expressed condolences and called on Nigerians and the media to stand with the military as it continues its operations against insurgency in the Northeast. His Special Adviser on Information, Bayo Onanuga, issued a statement saying the federal government would work with Borno State to ‘achieve total victory and lasting peace.’ The language was of solidarity — not accountability.
The families of the dead heard something different in those words. They heard a government that had accidentally killed their loved ones and was now asking them to be patient. The question of who will be held responsible for the targeting error has not been answered.
A pattern of civilian casualties
This is not the first time Nigeria’s military operations in the Northeast have resulted in civilian deaths. Rights organisations have documented multiple incidents over the years in which airstrikes or ground operations killed non-combatants in communities close to insurgent activity. Each time, the government has pledged investigations. The results of those investigations have rarely been made public.
What makes the Jilli incident particularly difficult to absorb is its scale and its timing. It happened as Senate President Godswill Akpabio was publicly insisting, just days later, that the rising violence in Nigeria is politically sponsored — a claim that simultaneously acknowledges the crisis and deflects responsibility for it. For northern communities that live under the twin threats of insurgent attack and military error, the distinction between the two kinds of violence is cold comfort.
What accountability would look like
Legal experts and civil society groups are calling for an independent investigation into the airstrike, transparent findings made available to the public, and compensation for the families of victims. The Nigerian Air Force must explain what intelligence was used to authorise the strike, why civilian
Chukwu Vincent Ogbonnia is the founder and lead editor of Viralarena, a Nigerian digital media platform covering breaking news, music, and sport. Based in Abuja, Vincent is a content creator passionate about telling Nigerian stories with speed, accuracy, and cultural authenticity.
Chukwu Vincent Ogbonnia is the founder and lead editor of Viralarena, a Nigerian digital media platform covering breaking news, music, and sport. Based in Abuja, Vincent is a content creator passionate about telling Nigerian stories with speed, accuracy, and cultural authenticity.
