The fatal operational error of the Nigerian Air force yesterday in Borno state which resulted in the death and injury of aid workers and refugees is not peculiar to Nigeria alone. In military parlance it is termed collateral damage which means the mistaken attack of an unintended target. Occasions of collateral damage cannot be left out in the history of military warfare, as various fatal incidents of this nature have dotted the evolution of warfare. Contemporary episodes, like in May 1999 when NATO Allied forces mistakenly hit the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade with US guided bombs, killing three Chinese nationals and two separate events in July and November 2008 of the accidental bombing of wedding parties in Iraq which left not less than 100 people dead has really raised concerns about safety precautions that should be adopted by air troops before dropping bombs. The US military expressed regrets over these fatal blunders claiming that the intended targets were Taliban militants operating within the area. One should have expected the United Nations all these years, to have come up with uniform precautionary procedures and regulations that should be strictly followed by air troops of member states while carrying out air raids. This is an issue because under international law and the Rome Statute, the unintentional killing of civilians during an armed conflict, no matter how grave and regrettable, does not constitute a war crime. A war crime only occurs if there is an intentional attack. So the unintentional nature of these blunders has enabled the military escape liability for one too many times.
Back to Nigeria, politicizing this grave blunder by the Nigerian Air Force is not going to solve the issue we have at hand, for now it should be seen as an operational error that needs to be thoroughly investigated. We should ask probing questions like; who ordered the raid? How credible was the Intel? Was the IDP camp properly marked to enable aerial visibility? These should be our major concern rather than all these blame games. The government must treat this matter with utmost urgency so that we can avoid occurrences like this in future and maintain our diplomatic ties with donor countries and relationship with various aid agencies who have contributed immensely in solving the humanitarian crisis faced in the North- Eastern part of Nigeria.

You're quite right, but this is nigeria, everything is being politicized. It has happened before and will keep happening, it won't stop now!