Kaduna state governor Uba Sani told the BBC that he would look into the plight of villagers like Ms Buhari.

“Thank you BBC for this information. I will personally go back to Tudunbiri, and if I find people that still need treatment, I will take care of it,” he promised.

“The instruction I gave was that all the injured should be treated and none of them should be discharged until they are fully recovered,” he added.

Undeterred by last year’s tragedy, the Muslim faithful in Tudunbiri celebrated the festival again this year, but held it two months earlier.

The occasion also marked the inauguration of a mosque the authorities have built for them over the bomb site, as a form of compensation.

Mr Abdulrasheed acts as the mosque’s imam as the previous one was killed in the air strikes.

“We are happy about the new mosque, but we can never forget what happened,” Mr Abdulrasheed told the BBC. “Any time I come here, I always remember that day, and I feel depressed. As we celebrate this year’s Maulud, we also mourn those that we lost.”

For years, Nigeria’s military has been battling armed jihadists and criminals, who raid villages and kidnap people for ransom in parts of the north.

This has led to an upsurge in air strikes aimed at targeting them.

The Nigerian Air Force has obtained “a multitude” of new aircraft, the editor of Defence Web, Guy Martin, told the BBC.

This included Chinese-built unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones.

“Chinese UAVs are cheaper, making them more accessible. Nearly a third of African countries have acquired UAVs, mainly from Turkey and China,” Mr Martin said, pointing out that it was strikes from UAVs that caused the disaster in Tudunbiri.

“Intelligence failure, poor coordination, and inadequate operator training are some of the reasons for erroneous strikes. The rapid deployment of UAV technology often outpaces the development of proper training and engagement protocols for military personnel,” Mr Martin added.

Maj-Gen Buba told the BBC that the military had found itself operating in a “challenging and complex” operational environment.

“But we have grown in our equipment holding and in our deployments of more experienced commanders and troops,” he said.

According to consulting firm SBM Intelligence, the Nigerian Air Force carried out 17 accidental air strikes between January 2017 and September 2024, killing more than 500 people.