Days after release of report: Army, Amnesty stick to their guns
Report will shore up terrorists, weaken Military – Army Go to court if you feel undermined – Amnesty You got your facts wrong – Presidency Altercations will worsen insecurity – Experts
The leadership of the Nigerian military and that of the Amnesty International (AI), Nigeria, are not shifting grounds in their altercation arising from the rights group’s latest report on security situation in Nigeria.
The Nigerian Army has restated its allegation that the Amnesty International was out to sow discord between the military and the Nigerian public, by making Nigerians lose confidence in the military so that terrorists will have the upper hand. But the AI has dismissed the charge, blaming the Nigerian Army of failing to admit shortcomings and make corrections. The group challenged the Army to seek redress in court if it truly feels the report would undermine it.
The latest exchange of words followed the release of a report on Monday by Amnesty, saying at least 3,641 people had died in clashes between farmers and herders in Nigeria between 2016 and 2018.
In the report, titled “Harvest of Death: Three Years of Bloody Clashes between Farmers and Herders,” AI said 2,000 deaths occurred in 2018 alone.
The group said the number would have been significantly reduced had security operatives acted accordingly.
“These attacks were well planned and coordinated, with the use of weapons like machine guns and AK-47 rifles,” said Osai Ojigho, Amnesty’s Nigeria director.
“Little has been done by the authorities in terms of prevention, arrests and prosecutions, even when information about the suspected perpetrators was available. The Nigerian government has displayed what can only be described as gross incompetence and has failed in its duty to protect the lives of its population,” the group stated.
Since the release, the rights group has come under barrage of criticisms from the military and the Nigerian government, who accused it of plotting to ‘dismember’ the country and derail the ongoing war against terrorism, allegations that Amnesty denied.
Speaking to Daily Trust on Sunday, the Nigerian Army spokesperson, Brig-Gen Sani Usman, said AI’s goal was to cause the erosion of confidence in military commanders for the benefit of ‘terrorists and criminals’.
“Indeed, it is a deliberate attempt to cast aspersions on the leadership and cohesion of the military, thus demoralising them, thus affecting their performance.
“It would make them lose credibility and public support, thus giving terrorists and other criminal elements an upper hand,” he said.
He faulted the organisation that failures by the security forces fuel escalating conflict between farmers and herders.
“It is not true that troops failed to respond to distress call, 16 hours after,” he said.
The Army spokesman condemned AI’s reports as annual ritual aimed at denigrating the security forces without any shred of evidence.
But the rights organisation dismissed the charges, saying it expected the Nigerian authorities to use its report as a basis for further investigation, adding that the nature of their reactions showed that they never bothered to read the report in the first place.
“Sometimes, the way the government dismisses our reports, clearly you will get the idea that they never even bother to read it, which is very unfortunate,” Isa Sanusi, Amnesty’s media and communications manager, told Daily Trust on Sunday.
He said, “What we are actually trying to do is to help the Nigerian government get pieces of information that will help the government to conduct its own research and investigation. Its own investigation can even be better than ours because the government has more money, resources and power to obtain all documents.
“But unfortunately, what we get is criticism, condemnation and allegations that are so unfounded.”
Sanusi also faulted the Federal Government over its allegations that AI’s operation in Nigeria was damaging the morale of the military, saying that instead, the report was to encourage Nigerian authorities to do more to protect human lives.
“If they read the report they would realise that we never blamed the military or demoralised them. The whole report is about failure of authorities to protect the lives of people. We respect the Nigerian military; we believe that they are doing a good job. So if we undermine the Nigerian military, what is the point?” he said.
He urged the military to seek redress in the court of law if it feels undermined by the report.
“If they have any evidence that we are undermining them, why can’t they take us to court? Why can’t they use the judicial processes to deal with us?
“We hope they would have a rethink, sit down and read our reports. If they have found any faults with our report, let them follow the legal processes and deal with us. This is what we want,” he added.
He said Amnesty releases reports on different human rights issues, but no one will react. But the moment it is about the military, the government and everyone becomes interested.
He said the display of professionalism by the Nigerian military during the investigation of the killing of the late General Idris Alkali showed that they have the capacity to protect Nigerians and that this kind of expertise and seriousness should be applied to the protection of lives in Nigeria.
Amnesty’s latest report came at a time Nigeria is preparing for the 2019 general elections, raising concerns among government officials that the organisation may have political motives. But Sanusi denied the allegation.
“Our colleagues in other countries are busy pushing governments to ensure that everyone has adequate housing, education and health care. But in Nigeria, we are still at zero point. We are just talking about a situation where people will have the opportunity to live without being killed.
“During the last administration, the same people in this government, who are now abusing us, always liked what we were doing when they were in opposition. Now that they are in government, they don’t like what we are doing.
“Those who are politicians and who see politics in everything are the ones giving political meaning to our action,” he added.
In a reaction earlier in the week, the Nigerian Army said Amnesty was plotting to destabilise the country with “fictitious allegations” and threatened to demand its closure in Nigeria.
“There is credible information that the Nigerian branch of the International Nongovernmental Organisation is determined to destabilise the country.
“This is noted through fabrication of fictitious allegations of alleged human rights abuses against the Nigerian security forces and clandestine sponsorship of dissident groups to protest, as well as unfounded allegations against the leadership of the Nigerian military,” Brig-Gen Usman said.
Hours after Army’s response, the Presidency issued its own reaction, saying it was increasingly concerned about the role the AI was playing in the war against terror in Nigeria.
Presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, in a statement, said Amnesty’s operations “seem geared towards damaging the morale of the Nigerian military.”
“It often appears as if the Nigerian government is fighting two wars on terror: against Boko Haram and against Amnesty International. The obvious bias and inaccuracies in Amnesty International’s recent country reports on Nigeria risk Amnesty’s reputation as an impartial international organisation,” he stated.
Similarly, Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, described Amnesty’s report as “largely outdated.’’
Mohammed, who addressed journalists on Thursday, said AI was wrong to have accused government of ineptitude after 947 suspected terrorists were arrested, 841 being prosecuted and 68 convicted.
He gave a breakdown of government’s achievements in tackling insecurity across the country, saying that in Taraba State, 49 were arrested and 42 being prosecuted; while in Plateau State, 43 were arrested and 31 were prosecuted.
He said that in Benue State, 120 were arrested, 81 prosecuted and 68 convicted, while in Niger State, 47 were arrested and 40 are being prosecuted.
In Zamfara State, the minister revealed that 172 were arrested and 162 are being prosecuted, while in Nasarawa State, 43 were arrested and 40 are being prosecuted
He said 38 suspected terrorists were arrested in Adamawa State and 34 are being prosecuted, while in Yobe State, 42 were arrested and 38 are being prosecuted.
Mohammed said that in Borno State, 40 were arrested and 36 are being prosecuted, while in Katsina State, 49 were arrested and 46 are being prosecuted
In Kogi State, the minister said that 23 were arrested and 20 are being prosecuted, while the Operation Absolute Sanity in North-East and North-Central arrested