On Monday, the 21st of March 2016, the
Nigerian Defence Headquarters represented by General Abayomi Olonisakin
inaugurated what it called a 12-man committee on human rights. It is not clear
if the Defence Headquarters is acting based on Section-5(1) CAP A20 L.F.N. 2004
or that General Olonisakin is trying to save the life and career of the never-retiring Lt.-Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai
who will end up at the prison yard, courtesy of the International Criminal
Court (ICC) in The Hague, just like his Commander-in-Chief, Retired Major
General Muhammadu Buhari would soon go to jail as well in The Hague for human
rights abuses and extra-judicial killings. During the inauguration of the
so-called human rights committee, General Olonisakin noted that “each member of
the committee was invited to look into the complaints of human rights abuses
levelled against the military” and “urged the committee to expand their focus
beyond the North East, to also include other areas of contention including the
issues emanating from clashes with the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN),
Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and Rivers State election rerun amongst
others.”
General Olonisakin also stated that the
Armed Forces of Nigeria is “always guided by global best practices, Rules of Engagement
(ROE) for military operations other than war as well as Codes of Conduct for
internal security operations.” On the other hand, he warned that the Armed
Forces “would not sacrifice professionalism on the platter of lawlessness or
extra-judicial conducts of anybody or groups.”
The terms of reference of this committee include “collation and
documentation of written complaints, as well as investigation of all the
alleged rights violations, interface with human rights bodies, recommend
appropriate sanctions where necessary and advice generally on modalities to
curtail violations of human rights by troops.”
It
is very laughable that the so-called committee on human rights which was meant
exclusively for the North-East of Nigeria was suddenly given the mandate to
operate elsewhere in Nigeria as a face-saving measure to divert the attention
of the public and the ICC from the upcoming criminal prosecution of Lt-Gen
Buratai, Muhammadu Buhari, Solomon Ehigiator Arase, and other accomplices to
the massacre of defenceless Biafrans which started seven weeks after the
swearing-in of Buhari as Nigeria’s president. Is it possible for General
Olonisakin to point at any report in the public domain from any committee that
was set up to probe any of the killings in Biafraland? In 2013, some committees
were set up by the Senate and the NBA to investigate the mass murder of
Biafrans and dumping of their bodies in Ezzu River but the committees‘ reports
were never made public. Even former Governor Peter Obi’s Ezzu River Autopsy
Report is still hidden in government house at Awka.
On the other hand, how can the military be
investigating crimes committed by itself and expect to get useful outcomes, in
addition to the fact that this committee is not headed by a reputable Judge but
rather the committee is mainly an assortment of retired and retarded members of
Nigerian military? How can a murderer investigate
his own crime? This is another waste of public funds in a country where the
average citizen lives on less than half-dollar in a day.
Instead of spending so much money on
logistics and other related expenses on this committee, we STRONGLY advice the
Defence Headquarters to use this money to hire a formidable defence attorney
who will defend them at the upcoming court case at the ICC. Perhaps, the
attorney may be able to reduce by a few years, the imminent long jail terms for
Buratai et al. Therefore the public should not be deceived by the red-herring
strategy of General Olonisakin and his cohorts because Buratai and his
co-murderers are prison-bound irrespective of the so-called committee on human
rights.
This committee is nothing but a deceit and
a charade!!!
Signed
Barrister Emma Nmezu Dr. Clifford Chukwuemeka Iroanya
Spokesperson for IPOB Spokesperson for IPOB
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