(Onitsha Nigeria, 24th of June 2016)-The International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety) is shocked and alarmed over the unrefined and Yorean utterances of President Muhammadu Buhari concerning sensitive national issues particularly the collective security of Nigeria and its Peoples. The President has since his swearing in on 29th of May 2015 governed Nigeria as an animal kingdom where few with political might, power and authority perpetually enslave the remaining majority with reckless abandon. The Presidency of Gen Muhammadu Buhari has continuously seen Nigeria and treated same as a jungle governed by no laws except personal whimsical and capricious might and initiatives. Nigeria under Muhammadu Buhari’s Presidency is akin to herders versus cows; where cows’ survival and welfare is dependent on their herders.
The most provocative and crudest of it all is President
Muhammadu Buhari’s constant and crude reference to civil war years in Nigeria
where he, in conspiracy with others, had the violent and hate opportunity to
supervise genocidal massacre and starvation of hundreds of thousands of
Nigerians of Old Eastern Region extraction or over 1.3 million of them between
May 1967 and January 1970; hiding under the canopy of civil war. The President
must be reminded that while there are restricted and tolerable excuses to kill
citizens particularly the combatants during internal or international armed
conflicts under the Geneva Conventions of the 1949 and other humanitarian
treaties; there are no excuses or defense whatsoever to kill innocent, unarmed
and nonviolent citizens in peacetime for exercising democratic free speeches
and rights to nonviolent assemblies. It must be stated too, that to
save the life of one innocent soul, lives of ten soldiers or security officers
can be excusably lost. It is therefore far much abominable to kill in
peacetime than to kill in wartime.
By making such painful and violent public statement,
President Muhammadu Buhari not only celebrates and justifies his ignoble roles
in butchering and starving his fellow Nigerians and human beings to death; but
also exposes his unrepentant hatred of the Peoples of the Southeast and the
South-south Nigeria. By his violent presidential statement, too, he is mocking
the peoples of the two regions in literal reference of them as spineless men, capable of being perpetually
enslaved by Hausa-Fulani violent oligarchy.
We are totally disappointed at the character, personality and
integrity of the President who ought to be the father of the country and its
Peoples. Though it appears that President Muhammadu Buhari is not in touch with
present social, political and legal realities nationally, regionally and
internationally, warranting his gross ignorance and unrefined utterances under
reference; having failed to be upgraded since 1985, but it is not enough excuse
for him to engage in such brazen and provocative hate and genocidal speech.
Such speech is unbecoming of the electoral President of the Federation of
Nigeria.
Another shocking dimension is the gross failure of the
President to distinguish between policies and conducts including security
policies and conducts guiding peacetime and wartime. Equating peacetime
genocidal massacres with acts perpetrated during wartime, is another
national embarrassment and emergency requiring urgent intervention by key advisers
and aides of the President. The Buhari’s Presidency is in dire need of
tutorials on issues of modern constitutionalism, multi-ethnic secularity,
political pluralism and tolerance, rule of law, citizens’ security and welfare,
human rights and civil liberties, regional and international obligations,
promotion and advancement of regional and international peace and security,
consensus/citizens’ sovereignty, modern international criminal and humanitarian
law practices and the principles and purposes of the United Nations.
To the extent that the President of Nigeria and his retinue
of aides and advisers do not know a primary difference between wartime
and peacetime and rules guiding them; is highest national
embarrassment. Just the other day, the Nigerian Army, following its genocidal
massacre on 30th of May 2016 of as much as 140 (updated figures)
unarmed and nonviolent Nigerian citizens of Southeast and South-south
extractions in Onitsha, Nkpor and Asaba within six hours; issued a statement,
falsely claiming that it acted within the ambits of rules of engagement, self defense
and use of force.
In its December 12th and 13th 2015
massacre of over 700 Shiite Muslim faithful in Zaria during their nonviolent
rallies at a certain public arena, the Nigerian Army made the same false
claims. The false claims of the Nigerian Army under reference were built on its
November 2015 corrupted and bastardized rules of engagement, which it
violently and unconstitutionally adopted in response to peaceful and nonviolent
assemblies organized by aggrieved Nigerians of Southeast and South-south
extractions against unaddressed structural and personal violent attacks
directed at them for decades by the State.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s dilemma is further complicated
and compounded by supporting naivety and lame duck advice offered him by his
leading aides and advisers including his security, defense and intelligence
advisers. Despite parading Nigeria’s securitization and legal better brains
like Retired Gen Abdulrahman Danbazzu, PhD, the quality of President Muhammadu
Buhari’s securitization, intelligence, defense and legal handling styles is
comparable, if not worse than that of late Idi Amin of Uganda. Some activist
lawyers of yesterday who have abandoned the masses and crossed over to
become establishment activists and profiteers of Lagos virus democracy;
now holding sway in Aso Rock; are not helping matters too. Today, their warped
interpretation of the Constitution and its auxiliaries; have emboldened the
administration of Muhammadu Buhari in its basket-load of regime atrocities.
As we repeatedly said in our recent publications, Nigeria is
a multi ethnic, religious and political territory of 250 sub-entities, governed
democratically under circumstances and manners clearly spelt out in its
Constitution of 1999, updated from the 1960 Independence Constitution. Nigeria
is also not an island of itself, which is why it is a member of the West
African sub-region or ECOWAS; African region or AU and the United Nations
System or UNO.
In all these, Nigeria willingly negotiated and entered into
strategic sub-regional, regional and international treaties and willingly
accepted to be bound legally and morally by their obligations. Nigeria also
inviolably subscribes to the customary international laws as well as the
international humanitarian laws. As a prominent member of UN, Nigeria is under
compulsory obligation not to breach the Principles and Purposes of the United
Nations particularly the promotion and advancement of international Peace and
Security. As a prominent Member-State of the United Nations, Nigeria is
mandatorily governed by all the rules and regulations of the United Nations
including the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and its three Protocols of 1977.
In conducting its internal conflict, it is mandatorily guided
by the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 or Protection of Civilian Persons in time of
War. Nigeria is also prohibited from destroying or targeting civilian
properties or places of worship or others that are clearly outside military
necessity. Combatants wounded in the war or who surrendered as well as
the Prisoners of War and all their rights to life and medical treatments and
freedoms from torture, rape, starvation, etc, are also protected by the Second
and Third Geneva Conventions of 1949. Non victims of internal conflict are
further protected by the Protocol 11 of the Geneva Conventions of 1949.
Totality of these constitutes “international humanitarian laws under UN
System”. And their gross
breaches by the State or opposing armed groups are referred to as “War
Crimes”.
Other key elements of the Geneva Conventions are doctrines
of Rules
of Engagement, Use of Force, Proportionality of Force and Self
Defense. These key elements and their mother Geneva Conventions, in
turn, originated from the three warfare
doctrines of Jus Ad Bellum (justification and ground for going to
war); Jus In Bellum (ethical rules of conduct during war, such as
ethical standards expected of soldiers in wartime or rules of engagement); and
Jus
Post Bellum (regulations on how wars are ended and facilitation of
transition from war to peace).
Wartime conducts, whether internal or international armed
conflicts, when separated from the
atrocious conducts of the State committed during peacetime or non war
situations are called or referred to as “regime atrocities”, culminating in “crimes
against humanity”. Exceptionally inexcusable is the use of force by the
State when policing nonviolent and peaceful assemblies. Even if the host State
tags such nonviolent assemblies as “unlawful”, use of force is still
out-rightly forbidden by UN. This is clearly provided in the Ten
Basic Standards of the International Law; specifically in its Fourth
Commandment.
Where violent assemblies are organized such as riots, State
is mandated by UN to “use force only to minimum extent
necessary”. The 9th Commandment of the
Basic Standards of the International Law, inviolably binding on Nigerian State;
forbids its security forces and their commanders from “carrying out any executive order,
or cover up extra judicial executions,
or disappearances and refuse to obey such order to do so”. Under all
these, there are no immunities or excuses for impunities. Use
of force and proportionality of force as well as self
defense are clearly spelt out in relevant regional and international
legal instruments including human rights and humanitarian treaties and
conventions.
For instance, a violent person bearing automatic weapon
loaded with live bullets and corked cannot be shot deadly or terminally by a
security officer in a bid to disarm him or her except if he or she points it in
the direction of the security officer with intent to shoot and kill him or her.
But if he or she points his or her gun on earth or in the air and the security officer
shoots him or her dead, the security officer is expressly culpable. This is
called “excess or deadly or maximum use of force”.
This is no to talk of situations during IPOB and Shiite
Muslim Sect nonviolent and unarmed rallies under reference during which
Buhari’s security forces, led by Lt Gen Turkur Buratai and ex IGP Solomon Arase
opened fire on those that gathered unarmed; encircled in rings, singing and
clapping; sleeping in the Church Primary School; running away for safety from
hell of fired live bullets; and lying in their hospital beds, receiving
emergency medical attentions. Most of them were killed after being shot at
their waists, chests, backs, foreheads, stomachs, necks, private parts, eyes,
heads, etc, while dozens more miraculously survived after they were shot and
wounded at their terminal regions. Some are crippled for life. Totality of these
is gross breach of the principles of use of force and the
proportionality of force; punishable locally as murder and attempted
murder and regionally and internationally as crimes against humanity.
It is therefore shocking and utterly provocative observing the
Nigerian authorities led by President Muhammadu Buhari crudely mixing up their
clear regime atrocities committed outside no group violence of any form and
labelling same an “act of war or insurrection”, for the purpose of escaping
criminal responsibilities. Further shocking and saddening is comparison of
Nigeria’s nonviolent and unarmed civil agitation bodies like IPOB with armed
Niger Delta militant groups that have taken up arms against the Federal
Government of Nigeria. The two are fundamentally, legally and politically
incomparable; likewise rules guiding their conducts regionally and
internationally. Till date, the Federal Government of Nigeria has failed
woefully to provide credible evidence of the Shiite Muslim sect and the Pro
Biafra agitators taking up arms against the Government of Nigeria. Not even a
single soul linked with or traced to Shiite Muslim sect or Pro Biafra agitation
group like IPOB, has been caught by the Buhari administration bearing any illicit
automatic weapon till date; not to talk of showing any credible evidence of
warfare combats between the Nigerian security forces and the Shiite Muslim sect
or Pro Biafra agitators in Nigeria or any part thereof.
In the Zaria Shiite massacre of over 700 unarmed citizens in
December 2015, no single soldier was killed. In Aba IPOB massacre of 9th
of February 2016, no single security officer was killed. In Onitsha IPOB
massacre of 17th of December 2015, no single soldier was injured or
killed. And in Onitsha and Nkpor Biafra/Igbo Heroes Day genocidal massacre of
over 140 unarmed citizens on 30th of May 2016, no single soldier was
killed, except in the Asaba spill- over massacre of same day during which a
provoked crowd swooped on three killer police officers, disarming and injuring
them, leading to death arising from injuries so sustained.
The stark truth remains that the Buhari administration is
violent and war mongering. The resurgence of militancy in the Creeks of the
Niger Delta was solely caused by the Buhari’s Presidency. Less than two weeks
into its Presidency, the Buhari administration opted for military confrontation
in the Niger Delta by launching military attacks in the area; leading to the
breakdown of the existing ceasefire and amnesty program. As if that was not
enough, he issued an “unwritten death code” against Pro Biafra agitators. In
November 2015, the Nigerian Armed Forces renamed the unwritten death code as “the
New Rules of Engagement of the Nigerian Armed Forces”. Since then, over
200 unarmed and nonviolent citizens of Igbo Ethnic Nationality have been killed
and over 300 deadly injured by the Buhari’s security forces.
We, hereby, submit that Buhari’s Presidency has violently and
immorally taken Nigeria over fifty years backward and the level of ethnic and
religious divisions inflicted on Nigerians on account of same is generationally
un-healing. Political Sovereignty has never been sustained or kept together
through barrel of guns or State violence. The Presidency of Gen Muhammadu
Buhari is running Nigeria in pieces and unless the President retraces his
administration’s deadly divisive and violent steps, otherwise, he may most likely
wake up one morning and finds himself as President of the non-existing Federal
Republic of Nigeria. Gorbachev’s Presidency in the then Union of Soviet
Socialist Republic is a clear case in point. He was later declared by the then
President of the Russian sub-Federation as “President of the non existing State”; leading
to disintegration of Soviet Union into fifteen republics.
The Buhari administration must learn from the United Kingdom,
whose citizens just registered no voice and thumbprint votes to
back out of the membership of the European Union, forcing the parliamentary
government of David Cameron to throw in the towel. The UK, in turn, has not
unleashed its coercive armouries on Scotland, following the latter’s civilized
quest to hold a referendum to decide whether to remain part of or opt of the United
Kingdom arrangement. The United States, too, has not crushed some of its States
clamouring for same. Puerto Rico is the only unincorporated territory in the
“United States”; seeking via a referendum to be so incorporated. Even the Republic of China has come to its
senses with respect to some of its Provinces agitating for independent
homelands. Instances abound to mention but few. Through good governance, virile
democratic free speeches, constitutional assemblies and referenda, political
territories voluntarily decide to live together as strong and united countries
or to live apart in peace and peaceful coexistence.
Signed:
For: International Society for Civil Liberties &
the Rule of Law
Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chairman
Mobile Line: +2348174090052
Barr Obianuju Igboeli, Head, Civil Liberties &
Rule of Law Program
Mobile Line: +2348034186332
Barr Chinwe Umeche, Head, Democracy & Good
Governance Program
Mobile Line: +2347013238673
Website: www.intersociety-ng.org
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