Leave the military alone, group tells Amnesty International

A human right body known as Conflict Resolution and Human Rights in Nigeria, has appealed to Amnesty International to leave the Nigerian army alone.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) had in a purported report released on Monday claimed that Nigerian Security Forces (NSF) have committed war crimes against humanity.

The fictitious ICC report said it has 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.

However, the army has since dismissed the allegations, describing it as a figment of the writer’s imagination.

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Onuoha G.C Esq, Executive Director of the coalition at a press conference on Wednesday, dared the organization to present the kind of evidence it claims to have before the ICC so that the world would see if they would stand up to scrutiny.

Onuoha strongly warned the AI to leave the Nigerian military alone and stop sowing seed of discord between the military and the people.

He said, “In recent days, we have observed the intensification of a campaign of calumny being run by foreign NGO against the Nigerian Military.

“The main talking points of the renewed campaign are: “Nigerian Military has committed  and is committing human right abuses. Nigerian military is shielding terrorists.

“These are false claims that have been made repeatedly in the past to an extent that right thinking people have learnt to not set stock in them. If Amnesty International has the kind of evidence it claims to have the natural order of things would have been for it to present them before the ICC so that the world would see if these claims would stand up to scrutiny.

What is playing out however is for the same old hogwash of launching this kind of propaganda each time the Nigerian Military is making gains against Boko Haram terrorists or any other group that is troubling the Nigerian state.

“For a few weeks in the last quarter of this year, Boko Haram terrorists, with some unknown internationally injected support, attacked several military outpost and caused casualties in some instances yet there was no whimper from Amnesty International to call for international outrage against the killings.

“Neighbouring countries to Nigeria have become hiding grounds for Boko Haram terrorists after each of their attacks in the country. Amnesty International has not deemed it fit to gather and filter its questionable data and evidence to present to the ICC. In fact, it is blissfully unaware that these terrorists usually cross into these countries after attacking Nigeria.

“In recent days, the Nigerian Military intensified the pummelling of Boko Haram terrorists and in the space of four days announced several successful exploits against the terrorists’ position and the next thing we hear is that Amnesty International has gathered evidence to present to ICC. Be the one to make the right calls here.

“The Coalition on Conflict Resolution and Human Rights in Nigeria is not taken in by the lies of Amnesty International. We therefore insist that the Nigerian military has committed no war crimes against humanity. The stories being planted by Amnesty International and some miscreants in their continuous attempt to truncate the anti-terror war have been established to be blatant lies that discerning people must ignore.

“We advise Amnesty International to focus on what it needs to do, which is to make atonement in all the countries of the world where it has sowed the kind of discord it is trying to sow in Nigeria.