‘Stop Targeting Amnesty’ – Falana Tells Nigerian Army

Stop targeting Amnesty’, Falana tells Nigerian Army

Human
rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana SAN has asked the Nigerian Army to end
“attack, harassment and intimidation of Amnesty International and focus
instead on addressing the several allegations of serious human rights
violations and abuses by the Army.”

In a statement made in Lagos
this morning, Mr. Falana said, “The Nigerian military has also been
indicted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),
Presidential Panel on Procurement of Arms and Ammunition, Judicial
Commissions of Enquiry and the International Criminal Court (ICC) on
gross human rights abuse and war crimes which are similar to the
allegations documented by Amnesty International.”

The Nigerian
Army yesterday said it would make a case for the closure of the Amnesty
International offices in Nigeria, alleging the human rights group “is
working hard to destabilise the country.”
But Falana said, “I am very
concerned that rather than telling Nigerians what they would do to
address the very damaging allegations made by Amnesty International of
grave human rights abuses against the Nigerian Army and other security
agencies the Army is targeting Amnesty simply for working to hold the
Army to account.”

Falana’s statement read in part: “The Army
should accept responsibility and allow Amnesty International to carry
out its human rights work. Stigmatising and maligning the very
organizations that stand for human rights would be inconsistent with
Nigerian Constitution of 1999 (as amended) and international law, and
portray the Army as attempting to cover up the allegations.”

“Contrary
to the false claim of the Army, the Muhammadu Buhari government in 2016
instituted a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to investigate allegations
of human rights violations and abuses by the Nigerian Armed Forces in
the North-east region and other parts of the country. The panel
confirmed grave human rights abuses by the military. Unfortunately, the
government has not been able to release the report. Further, the
government has not released the White Paper on the panel’s findings.”

“However,
many of the hundreds of people being detained in Giwa Barrack and other
detention centres have either been released or charged to court. But
the Army previously dismissed the allegations of human rights abuse of
the detainees.”

“The Nigerian Army killed 347 Shiites in Zaria in
December 2015 under the pretext that there was a plot to assassinate
the Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Buratai. The Judicial Commission
of Enquiry instituted by Governor Nasir Elrufai of Kaduna State
dismissed the basis of the massacre and recommended the prosecution of
the culprits. But as the indicted officers and the troops were not
prosecuted for conspiracy and culpable homicide the Army again opened
fire on another group of Shiites in Abuja in October 2018. At the end
of the attack, 52 Shiites were killed in cold blood. Even though the
soldiers who committed the reckless massacre in Abuja have been
identified in a video they will not be brought to trial for now!”

“In
all of these incidents and several others, Amnesty International and
other human rights bodies have conducted investigated and indicted the
criminal elements who bear most responsibility for the crimes against
humanity and other egregious human rights violations committed against
the Nigerian people. It is because of these unresolved allegations that
the Army is now mounting pressure on the Federal Government to expel
Amnesty International.”

“Last week, the Army did the same thing
to UNICEF, an institution that is doing so much to protect the human
rights of Nigerian children in difficult circumstances in the North-east
region and across the country. We are not unaware that the Nigerian
authorities did not like the recent report by UNICEF that 13.2 million
Nigerian children are out of school, sadly the highest number in the
world.”

“We are also aware that some senior military officers are
standing trial for alleged criminal diversion of several billions of
Naira earmarked for the purchase of arms and ammunition for counter
insurgency operations. This sad development has prolonged the war on
terror being prosecuted by the Federal Government.”

Mr. Falana
also recalled that President Buhari had personally assured the
leadership of Amnesty International that all allegations of human rights
by the military would be investigated and that anyone implicated would
be sanctioned. The Senate had also passed a resolution to probe the
various allegations of human rights abuse by the members of the armed
forces. But due to the failure of the Nigerian Government to ensure
compliance of the Armed Forces with Human Rights’ obligations and rules
of engagement and specifically to investigate allegations of human
rights abuses levelled against the military by Amnesty International and
other foreign and local human rights organisations the International
Criminal Court has been inundated with petitions alleging human rights
abuse by the Nigerian military and failure of the Government to bring
the perpetrators to book.

According to the human rights
lawyer, “the ICC has recently revealed that it received a total of 169
communications from Nigeria and its assessment has shown that security
forces in Nigeria have committed war crimes varying from murder,
torture, and intentionally attacking the civilian population.
Specifically, the Office found a reasonable basis to believe that
security forces committed the war crimes of murder, torture, cruel
treatment, outrages upon personal dignity and intentionally directing
attacks against the civilian population.”

Mr. Falana urged the
Authorities of the Nigerian Army to stop chasing the shadow by mounting
pressure on the Buhari administration to close down the offices of
Amnesty International and UNICEF in Nigeria. To prevent the arraignment
of the indicted military officers before the International Criminal
Court, the Federal Government is advised to obtain the report of the
Prosecutor with a view to embarking on the immediate prosecution of
the suspects. Furthermore, the Federal Government should prosecute the
military personal indicted by the two judicial commissions of enquiry as
well as the Presidential Panel on Arms Procurement.

Tayo Soyemi
Falana and Falana Chambers