Politics
TUKUR Yusuf Buratai, former Chief of Army Staff, maybe sitting on a cracked pot, which may give way and fall apart any moment. That’s because, a group which goes by the name Eastern Nigeria’s Rights and Intelligentsia Coalition, has launched an International justice campaign against him and others. And among other things, the group is seeking for Buratai and others associated with him, be declared persona non-grata around the world, while life jail for atrocities against unarmed Igbos and others be considered for them.
In a statement signed by members of the group, who cut across the world, and made available to the media on Wednesday, they declared that: “We, the undersigned human rights and intelligentsia coalition of old Eastern Nigeria origin, working toward redressing abuses and violations of human rights of grievous nature as defined by int’l instruments have today resolved to launch local and int’l justice campaigns against the immediate past Nigerian Army Chief, Retired Lt Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai and over 20 others concerning their atrocious rights abuses while in office.
The referenced international justice campaigns specifically border on justice for the victims of the horrendous rights abuses and violations and the severe punishment of their perpetrators. The chief perpetrator in this regard is immediate past Army Chief, Retired Lt Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai. Others in the list are senior serving and retired military and police chiefs, as well as the Governors of Anambra and Abia States; all numbering over 20.”
The group went on to list some of the atrocities committed by Buratai and his associates, while in office before his recent retirement late January 2021. Notable among them being the recent secret execution off six igbo Christian soldiers at Abacha Barracks.
The coalition claims that they stand on the grounds of a report by E.R. Okoroafor, an international human rights lawyer, who is very conversant with the matter and was also contacted by one of the slain soldiers through his family to defend them in the trumped up charges, before they were executed after a ‘hazy and clandestine Military Court Martial.’ Who also told them of his efforts to stand in for the Igbo soldiers that were stiffly opposed and he was flimsily told by the Army’s Legal Department that ‘civilian lawyers are not allowed to defend accused soldiers except military lawyers’. And who also confirmed to them that the trial of the six igbo Christian soldiers was shrouded in secrecy and never disclosed to the public through Army statements till date.
The said six Igbo Christian soldiers were attached to the Armory Department of the Nigerian Army, Abacha Barracks in Abuja. And are listed as: Prince Ukwuoma, son of a traditional ruler; Ebube Isaiah, Amos Azubuike, Ekene Ebere, Moses Anyim and Godwin Uchendu. The group claims further that they were said to have been secretly executed under the instruction of the now retired Lt Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai, a day before he left office on Tuesday, 26th January, 2021, on an allegation of missing weapons, which was made at Abacha Barracks and traced to a senior Colonel of Fulani-Hausa Muslim origin.
“But instead of the COAS to issue query and sanction, the Colonel was exonerated on the grounds of his tribe and religion. The COAS turned around and ordered for the arrest of 12 soldiers guarding the armory, comprising six Igbo soldiers, three Yoruba soldiers and three Fulani-Hausa Muslim soldiers. In the end, the latter soldiers were shielded and exonerated under questionable circumstances and the six Igbo soldiers made to face secret court martial during which they were blocked and prevented from having access to their families and defense lawyers of their choice,” the group said.
The coalition said that it considered the secret execution as totally despicable and condemnable and a clear case of ethnic cleansing, which adds to several reported and unreported cases of dismissals, resignations and desertions involving soldiers and officers of old Eastern Nigeria extraction on account of the ethnic cleansing under Buratai as Nigerian Army Chief.
The coalition also noted that hundreds of Obigbo Army Abductees are still unaccounted for, according to facts available at Intersociety, a human rights organization.
“A total of over 400 Obigbo residents had gone missing between late October and second week of November 2020 after the Army invasion of Obigbo and its environs on 21st October, 2020; out of which 52 were rescued and freed in Niger State. A total of 93 others have so far been rescued and freed in Abuja. As it stands, 63 more names have been traced to different Army secret detention facilities in Abuja and at least three have been confirmed killed in Army detention among hundreds of those still being held captive and incommunicado in secret military locations.”
The group went on to make recommendations, which include that, the named perpetrators, especially retired Lt Gen Tukur Buratai must face prosecution and life jail at ICC or in national courts in any foreign country operating international criminal jurisdictions on crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
They called for a harvest of civil suits against the perpetrators by human rights lawyers and victims of the horrendous crimes under reference.
That members of the international community, especially the western democracies and the UN as well as international human rights organizations and institutions, should take diplomatic and advocacy notice of the named perpetrators and their atrocity crimes, for purpose of holding them judicially accountable and ensuring that they end up being international pariahs.
That the international governments and Intergovernmental agencies should ensure that the perpetrators are declared “persona non grate” including slamming them with appropriate international sanctions.
And that sanction against them should include making them ineligible in all regional and international military, policing and other security or diplomatic engagements, especially those involving corporate and individual or intergovernmental consultancies, contracts, partnerships, exchange visits, awards, presentations, board or institution appointments, holidays, and denying them and their family members visas, freezing their accounts and seizing or confiscating their assets abroad.
The group said it was unfortunate that the Nigerian Government was now a monumental failure in terms of keeping with its regional and international human rights and humanitarian obligations or commitments.
“The grievous rights abuses and violations by the government and its security chiefs include those provided and clearly defined in various international instruments with ‘justiciable binding effects’. Among them are crimes of genocide defined by the Article 6 of the Rome Statute; crimes against humanity defined by the Article 7 and war crimes defined by the Article 8 of the same Rome Statute of the Int’l Criminal Court. The Rome Statute was internationally enacted in 1998 and entered into force in 2001. Nigeria signed and ratified it on 27th September, 2001.”
To nail the matter in the head, the coalition went ahead to list 19 massacres said to have been perpetrated by the Nigerian Army under Buratai and the said others.
“These includes: (1) the 30th August 2015 massacre of 40 defenseless citizens of Judeo-Christian faith during peaceful protests in Onitsha, Enugu, Yenagoa, Uyo, Port Harcourt and Asaba; (2) 2nd and 17th Dec 2015 massacre of 30 defenseless citizens of same faith in Onitsha; and (3) 14th-15th Dec 2015 massacre of no fewer than 1000 unarmed Shiite Muslims during their religious processions in Zaria (Government later admitted massacring 348); (4) 18th and 29th Jan 2016 massacre of 20 defenseless citizens of Judeo-Christian faith during peaceful protests in Aba; (5) 9th Feb 2016 massacre of 30 unarmed protesters in Aba; (6) 29th and 30th May 2016 massacre of 140 defenseless citizens of Judeo-Christian faith during global Igbo Heroes Day in Onitsha and Nkpor (110 deaths) and Asaba (30 deaths), (7) the 2016 starvation to death of 240 civilian detainees, including 29 children with ages between newborn and five years at Giwa Army Barracks in Maiduguri, Borno State (AI Report: 2016); (8) 7th Jan 2017 military massacre (air bombing) of 236 internally displaced persons (IDPs) at Christian IDP camp in Kala-Balge, Borno State; (9) 20th Jan 2017 massacre of 20 unarmed protesters (pro-Trump rally) in Port Harcourt; (10) 4th Dec 2017 massacre (air bombing) of 50 rural Christians in Numan, Adamawa State; and (11) 11th to 14th Sept 2017 massacre of over 180 unarmed and defenseless citizens of Judeo-Christians faith in Ogwe, Aba, Isiala-Ngwa and Umuahia, all in Abia State.
The rest are: “ (12) 29th and 30th Oct 2018 massacre of 47 Shiite Muslims in Abuja; (13) 29th/30th June 2020 Army massacre of 30 unarmed Tiv Christians in Taraba State; (14) 23rd August 2020 Army massacre of over 30 Judeo-Christian worshippers and sports activists in Emene, Enugu State; (15) 20th night of Oct 2020 massacre of over 20 defenseless protesters in Lekki, Lagos State; (16) Oct 2020 massacre by Army/Police of over 300 unarmed citizens across Nigeria during the EndSARS protests, including over 70 killed in Lagos and 50 killed in the Southeast, (17) Oct/Nov 2020 massacre by Army of not some 102 defenseless Igbo citizens in Obigbo, Rivers State, (18) abduction between 22nd Oct and 10th Nov 2020 of over 400 defenseless Obigbo residents in Rivers State and their clustered incommunicado detention in different military dungeons in Northern Nigeria, during which scores were tortured or shot dead in captivity; and (19) Jan 2021 killings by Nigerian Army in Orlu, Imo State where about defenseless residents of the area have so far been reported killed. The Orlu Army killings is led by a hateful Fulani-Hausa Muslim Army commander, named ‘Brig Gen Ibrahim Tukura’, Commandant, 34 Brigade, Obinze, near Owerri, Imo State.”
The statement also listed the other perpetrators in the 19 massacres as being: Retired Lt Gen Abayomi Olanisakin, former Chief of Defense Staff, who is said to have co-supervised the September 2017 massacre of over 180 defenseless Southeasterners and maiming of over 130 others in Abia and killing of not less than 102 Obigbo residents, maiming of 120 others and abduction of over 400, Retired Air Chief Marshall Sadique Abubakar, who is said supervised the air bombing of not less than 300 Christians in Jan and Dec 2017 in Borno and Adamawa States), Major Gen Ibrahim Attahiru the new Army Chief of Staff and who is said to have coordinated the massacre of 216 defenseless Easterners in 2015/6 in Anambra and Abia States), Retired IGP Solomon Arase and Retired IGP Ibrahim Kpotum Idris who are said to have co-supervised the massacre of over 400 defenseless Easterners on 30th August, 2nd and 17th Dec 2015, 18th and 29th Jan, 9th Feb and 29th and 30th May 2016 in Anambra and Abia and 20th Jan and 11th-14th Sept 2017 in Abia and Rivers States), Retired Director Musa Daura, former DG, SSS said to have been state intelligence provider in referenced massacres that took place in 2015, 2016 and 2017) and Major Gen Adamu Baba Abubakar, former GOC, 82 Division, Enugu said to be a coordinator of the massacre of over 180 defenseless Easterners in Sept 2017, and Major Gen Lasisi Adegboye, the current GOC, 82 Division, Enugu and formerly a principal staff officer of the Division, said to have been a co-coordinator of the massacre of over 180 defenseless Easterners in Abia State in Sept 2017.
The rest being: Major Gen Abdul Kalifa Ibrahim, former Brigade Commander, 14 Brigade, Ohafia said to have co-coordinated the massacre in Sept 2017, Major Gen John Enenche, former Defense Headquarters Spokesman said to have co-supervised the massacre of 180 defenseless Easterners in Sept 2017), Brig Gen Isa Maigari Abdullahi, former Commandant of 302 Artillery, Onitsha, said to have coordinated the 2nd and 17th Dec 2015 and 29th and 30th May 2016 massacre of over 180 defenseless Easterners in Anambra and Delta States, Retired DIG Jabila Joshak said to have taken charge of 9th Feb 2016 Aba massacre, Retired AIG Hosea Karma at 2016 World Igbo Day massacre in Anambra and Delta, Retired DIG Anthony Ogbizi at Sept 2017 massacre in Aba, Umuahia), AIG Babatunde Johnson Kokumo at 2016 World Igbo Heroes Day massacre in Anambra, Major Gen I.H. Bature at Sept 2017 massacre in Aba, Umuahia, Major Gen Enobong Okon Udo said to have supervised 20th Jan 2017 pro Trump rally killing of 20 defenseless citizens in Port Harcourt, Rivers State), Brig Gen Sagir Musa said to have co-supervised the killings of Dec 2015 to Sept 2017 in Anambra and Abia, Col Umar Sidi Kasim the Commanding Officer, 144 Battalion, Asa in Abia State and coordinator of the 9th Feb 2016 and Sept 2017 massacres in Aba, Umuahia, Col C.O. Ibrahim (Onitsha Cantonment Military Police Officer and troop commander of the 29th and 30th May 2016 World Igbo Heroes Day massacre in Anambra and Delta.
Governors William Obiano and Victor Ikpeazu of Anambra and Abia States were also listed among as being the ones that mobilized and funded the 2016 World Igbo Heroes Day massacre in Anambra and the 9th Feb 2016 and Sept 2017 massacres in Aba, Umuahia and others and so on.
“The office immunities of these two governors will elapse on 17th March 2022 and 29th May 2023 respectively,” the statement noted.
– Feb 03, 2021 @ 16:12 GMT |
Tags: Coalition group launches int’l justice campaign against Buratai Others
