The Senator representing Southern Borno Senatorial District, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume managed to escape death yesterday as a Nigerian Air Force, NAF, Jet allegedly confused his convoy for those of Boko Haram terrorists and threw explosives at it.
NAF authorities says the jet mistakenly fired shots at the Senator’s convoy while on the pursuit of some Boko Haram suspects who were operating in the area at the time Ndume’s convoy was passing by.
Ndume was returning from Gwoza Local Government where he had gone to sympathise with the community over ongoing killings in the area when the incident occured
While addressing newsmen at his Maiduguri residence, Ndume said he he was surprised when he was attacked by an Air Force jet.
“I thank God for sparing my life as the jet which I suspected was on military operation against Boko Haram dropped four bombs on my convoy.
“I went to Gwoza. I notified the police and military authorities of my presence where they even assisted me with security cover, and when I finished with my mission at about 2:10pm, we started hearing explosions. Initially, I thought it was Boko Haram that wanted to attack me, but when we were thrown into confusion, the soldiers attached to my convoy rushed to me and said it was not Boko Haram, but rather, an Air Force jet that was dropping bombs. We had to run into a military base close to the scene of the incident and take cover.”
Ndume claims to have reported the incident to the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Azubuike Ihejirika, who had replied his text message with the following words: “I hope no life was lost.”
NAF’s Spokesman, Air Commodore Yusuf Anas has however revealed to Vanguard Newspaper that its jet was pursuing some Boko Haram suspects when it cited Ndume’s convoy and mistakenly fired some shots at it, and not bombs. He described the incident as unfortunate.
