Jonathan orders investigation into Baga killings, says casualty figure “grossly exaggerated"

A few hours after PREMIUM TIMES reported the silence of President Goodluck Jonathan, over 48 hours after the killing of several scores of civilians in Baga, Borno State, the president has ordered an investigation into the killings.
In a statement by his spokesman, Reuben Abati, the president said he ordered “a full-scale investigation into reports of high civilian casualties in the confrontation between Nigerian soldiers and insurgents at Baga in Borno State at the weekend,” after receiving “preliminary briefings from the Military High Command.”
“While the preliminary briefings indicate that the casualty figures being reported by the foreign media may be grossly exaggerated, President Jonathan assures Nigerians and the global community that the Federal Government of Nigeria places the highest possible value on the lives of all citizens of the country and that his administration will continue to do everything possible to avoid the killing or injuring of innocent bystanders in security operations against terrorists and insurgents,” Mr. Abati said.

The spokesman said the investigations would reveal whether the military adhered to the “Rules of engagement” during the confrontation with the insurgents.
He said the President has also ordered the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) and federal health agencies to liaise with the Borno State Government and take urgent steps to provide immediate relief and medical support for all who suffered losses and injury in the fighting at Baga.
Mr. Abati said the president commiserates with “all those who have regrettably lost their lives in the fighting, including the soldiers who gallantly made the supreme sacrifice in the operation against terrorism, insurgency and insecurity in Nigeria.”
He said the President is “deeply pained by the continuance of these needless deaths and will continue to do all within his powers to achieve lasting peace, security and stability in all parts of the country.”
He said Mr. Jonathan will inaugurate a “National Committee on …Wednesday for dialogue and the peaceful resolution of security challenges in the North,” which he hopes “will contribute significantly to ending the continuous loss of lives to wasteful violence.”
Residents of Baga, a fishing community near Lake Chad, said they buried 185 residents who died during a clash between insurgents, members of the Boko Haram, and security forces on Friday night and Saturday. They said most of the deaths occurred from the fire that engulfed about 2000 homes after the clash, and alleged that the fire was started by officers of the Joint Task Force.
The military, however, said it killed 25 insurgents and lost an officer during the violence, but declined to comment on the civilian casualty.

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