The Presidency has insisted that the Nigerian military operation that struck Jilli market in a boundary community between Yobe and Borno states was deliberate and targeted at terrorists, not civilians.
While the airstrike has drawn criticism and calls for investigation, the Yobe State government maintained that the operation was intentional and based on credible intelligence.
The Presidency disclosed on Tuesday that the location had long ceased to function as a purely civilian trading hub.
It said the market had been infiltrated and effectively taken over by Boko Haram and ISWAP as a logistics base.
Senior presidential aide Tope Ajayi described the site as “a legitimate military target,” insisting that insurgents had converted it into a coordination and supply point.
The Presidency further pushed back strongly against comments by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who had criticised the airstrike and raised concerns over civilian deaths.
Also in a statement, the Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Public Communications and Orientation, Sunday Dare described Atiku’s remarks as “misleading, reckless and detrimental” to national security efforts.
Dare argued that portraying the operation as an attack on civilians distorted the reality of the situation and risked undermining troop morale.
“While the location may still be referred to as ‘Jilli Market,’ it has not functioned as a legitimate civilian marketplace in any meaningful sense,” he said.
“By multiple credible accounts, it has evolved into an operational node within the insurgency’s supply chain.”
He warned that politicising military operations could embolden terrorists and weaken public confidence in ongoing counter-insurgency efforts.
Despite official insistence on the legitimacy of the strike, concerns over civilian casualties have persisted.
Meanwhile, former Senate President, Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan has called for a “full, transparent and independent investigation” into the incident, citing reports that more than 100 civilians may have been killed.
Lawan said he was “deeply saddened and disturbed” by accounts that military jets bombed a crowded marketplace, leaving scores dead and many others injured.
Medical sources, according to him, had confirmed receiving dozens of severely injured victims, with fears that the death toll could rise.
“Without prejudice to the integrity of our military, the victims deserve answers and justice,” Lawan said, urging authorities to grant investigators access to the area, provide medical care for survivors and compensate affected families.
