Airstrike: Civilians Have No Business Being in Jilli – Minister

In an exclusive interview at the Ministry of Defence headquarters on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, the minister, Christopher Musa (retd), defended the military operation. According to him, insurgents often exploit civilian environments; hence, distinguishing between fighters and non-combatants is complex.

You said in an interview that “a friend of a thief is a thief and anybody found with terrorists would be treated as a terrorist.” Is this now the norm in the fight against insurgency?

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If you make yourself a target, you will definitely be treated as one. That is why, once you are with terrorists or bandits, you also make yourself a legitimate target to be taken out.

One of the reasons terrorism continues to thrive is that sometimes we have opportunities to strike, but because civilians are present, we call off the operation, and they realise this.

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As a result, they often try to use civilians as human shields to prevent us from striking them. Most times, when we get them, especially those who supply them, those individuals also become legitimate targets.”

But most of the people who survived the attack claimed they were not terrorists..

I am happy you said ‘claim’. And I can tell you for real to go back to Maiduguri. I want to challenge you to go to Jilli.

We were there.

At Jilli?

Yes.

Then I am not sure you really went to the right Jilli. Go around the towns of Maiduguri and Damaturu and talk to people generally, and they will tell you realistically that anybody who was in that place wasn’t supposed to be there. They had no business being there. When I was the theatre commander, we knew what Jilli was. I had my men who were killed in Jilli during Operation Last Hold. It was the same Jilli. They attacked my men and killed them in that same place. Those coming from the Lake Chad area go there to get supplies; it is an arrangement. They go to the market, buy supplies and take them to Jilli. That is why this conflict has persisted.

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