The Federal government has accused Amnesty International of siding with those that violently oppose the Federal Government of Nigeria. In a statement on Wednesday by Garba Shehu, the spokesperson to President Muhammadu Buhari, the presidency accused Amnesty International of defending terrorists who ‘has no legal right to exist in Nigeria.’ This was in reaction to the latest report by the NGO asking the Nigerian government to end enforced disappearance in the country. Mr. Shehu said the Nigerian government will fight terrorism with all the means at its disposal because Amnesty’s ranting will be ignored. Especially when it comes from an organization that does not hold itself to the same standards it demands of others.
The statement titled: “Why Amnesty entreaties should be ignored”, reads in part: “Amnesty International’s latest salvo at Nigeria is but more of the same.
“Parroting the line of Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB, a proscribed terror organisation, they work to legitimise its cause to Western audiences,” Mr. Shehu wrote.
“Again, they have decided to side with terrorists, before the liberty of those they injure, displace, and murder.
“Parroting the line of Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB, a proscribed terror organisation, they work to legitimise its cause to Western audiences.
“This puts them in bad company. IPOB murder Nigerian citizens. They kill police officers and military personnel and set government property on fire.
“Now, they have amassed a substantial stockpile of weapons and bombs across the country.
“Were this group in a western country, you would not expect to hear Amnesty’s full-throated defence of their actions. Instead, there would be silence or mealy-mouthed justification of western governments’ action to check the spread of “terrorism.”
Amnesty International has no legal right to exist in Nigeria. It must open a formal investigation into the personnel that occupies their Nigerian offices. They should reject the outrageously tendentious misinformation they receive and bring some semblance of due diligence to the sources they base their claims on. Currently, we see none.
