A leading civil society group, the Campaign for Democracy, CD, has issued a statement in which it accused the Nigerian Army of gross human by killing as many as 2,000 Igbo youth under the guise of ‘rule of engagement’.
The human rights group called on the United Nations, International Criminal Court, the United States of America, the United Kingdom and other world powers to take note of the “man’s inhumanity to man” going on in the killing of defenceless Nigerians by the Nigerian Armed Forces under the command of the President Muhammadu Buhari.
Dede Uzor, the CD’s national spokesperson, in a statement on Wednesday, January 4, 2016, said that the victims of the Nigerian Army’s human rights abuses in the South East were unharmed pro-Biafra activists.
Uzor also called for an independent investigation of the massacre of over 800 Christians in Southern Kaduna saying that only an independent investigation will unmask the brains behind the attacks which are being carried out by terrorists in the Fulani herdsmen militia.
The civil society group called on the National Assembly to include members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB and Igbo youths as members of the panel that would probe the recent killings in Southern Kaduna.
The human rights group opined that if the national assembly resumed from both the Christmas and New Year break, it would be ideal to include all pro-Biafra groups and Igbo youths in the panel, to avoid being lopsided.
He added that the vow by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki to set up a high-powered investigative team to ascertain the circumstances surrounding such a high volume of killing of Christians was a step in the right direction.
The statement further noted that since the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of IPOB, Chidiebere Onwudiwe, IPOB’s national coordinator; Benjamin Onwuka, leader of Biafra Zionists Movement, BZM whose over 100 members are currently languishing in various prison custodies, and other Igbo activists, no fewer than 2,000 Igbo youths had been murdered by the Nigerian Army.
“It is on record that two years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s leadership has witnessed the highest number of killings of innocent Nigerians than the previous 17 years of uninterrupted democracy and past military administrations put together,” the group said.
Nigerian Army Responds
REJOINDER TO THE CAMPAIGN FOR DEMOCRACY’S ALLEGATION OF THE KILLING OF 2000 IGBO YOUTHS BY THE NIGERIAN ARMY
The attention of Headquarters 82 Division Nigerian Army has again been drawn to an unjustified, invidious and over flogged accusation, this time, by the Campaign for Democracy (CD) of “Mass killings of Igbo Youths by the Nigerian Army”. This allegation is contained in a statement issued by the Publicity Secretary, CD in Onitsha, Anambra State.
In the statement, the CD claimed that “No fewer than 2000 Igbo Youths had been killed by the Nigerian Army under the guise of Rules of Engagement”.
Similarly there was also report claiming that Amnesty International indicted Nigerian Security Forces in the “killing of No Fewer Than 150 Peaceful Pro Biafra Protesters” in the South Eastern part of Nigeria with different captions in the media. These story lines are referring to the encounter between the Nigerian Army and MASSOB/IPOB protesters between August 2015 and August 2016. All these have been severally thoroughly refuted in many media platforms by the Nigerian Army and it is the same position that this rejoinder has soundly adopted.
For emphasis and clarity, the Nigerian Army as an accountable, morally and professionally sound organization had variously through its Human Rights Desk at the Army Headquarters, painstakingly investigated allegations of rights violations and the results indicated specifically that this claim is false, malicious and should therefore be ignored for the sake of Nigeria.
Instructively, the Nigerian Army under its constitutional authorization to aid Civil Authority and Military Aid to Civil Power must continue to act in the best interest of the nation (in collaboration with other security agencies) to de-escalate violence and checkmate security threats across the nation. This task must be done, despite the sordid propaganda and possible politicization of the issue by ill meaning Nigerians.
Finally, looking at the recurrent posture of this allegation, the 82 Division Nigerian Army wishes to state that relevant authority/ies in the South East are at liberty to set up an inquiry in to this accusation with the view to getting to the roots and end of this obnoxious and unfounded claim.
Colonel Sagir Musa
Deputy Director Army Public Relations
Saturday, January 7, 2016
