The group had asked the
new President,
Muhammadu Buhari, to
investigate Senior
Military officials for
complicity in the extra judicial killing of over 8,000 people in
the north-east.
But the Defence Headquarters in a statement on Wednesday
denied the allegation, expressing disappointment in what it
called gruesome allegations made by the Amnesty
International against some senior officers of the Nigerian
Armed Forces both serving and retired.
Continuation Of Blackmail
“It is unfortunate that all effort made in the allegation was
geared towards continuation of blackmail against the
military hierarchy in which the organisation had embarked
upon as far back as the inception of military’s action against
terrorist in the North East.
“The officers mentioned in the report have no reason,
whatsoever, to indulge in the allegation made against them.
“It is unfortunate that the organisation just went out to
gather names of specified senior officers, in a calculated
attempt to rubbish their reputation as well as the image of
the military,” the statement issued by military spokesman,
Major General Chris Olukolade read.
The military said the action, no doubt, depicts more of a
premeditated indictment aimed at discrediting the country
for whatever purpose.
Each of the previous allegations by the rights group had
been responded to by the military, with outright denial of
the claims.
“The title down to the body of the allegation smacks of the
extreme bias, which is disturbing coming from an otherwise
reputable organisation that is expected to be Just and fair to
all.
“Unfortunately in this case, has taken a premeditated
position, which is far from noble.
“It is curious that a body that has never been able to
seriously condemn terror in Nigeria now claims to have
done an extensive research with the aim of discrediting the
nation’s effort at curtailing terror.
“It is clear that Amnesty International (AI) becomes more
active in presenting distractive allegations whenever the
terrorists are losing ground in the battle.
“It is very unfortunate that Amnesty International has used
this report to further confirm its questionable interest in the
counter-terrorism effort in Nigeria,” the military stated.
After such claims were made months ago, a Joint
Investigation Team was set up by the Defence Headquarters
as part of efforts to ensure that no detainee suffered
unjustly.
According to the military, the detention facilities were
thrown open for visits and inspections by independent
bodies such as International Committee of the Red Cross
and other reputable international organisations and
personalities.
“Biased And Concocted Report”
The Defence Headquarters further urged Amnesty
International to stop playing “the role of an irritant coming
up loudly only when the terrorists are losing out and
remaining silent or complacent whenever the terrorist
heightens its atrocities”.
“It is unfair to persist in effort to discredit Nigerian military
by seeking all avenues to stigmatise individual officers of the
nation’s military purely to satisfy an agenda against the
security agencies and image of Nigeria before the
international community.
“The Nigerian Armed Forces is quite conscious of the fact
that the operation has prompted the need to save citizens
from abuse of their rights by mindless terrorists,” the
statement further read.
The military also described as unfortunate the decision by
Amnesty International to ignore all the responses and
clarifications provided to its enquires by the authorities and
rejected what it called “the biased and concocted report
provided by Amnesty International”.
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