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Nigeria civil society groups want Amnesty expelled

Thursday May 24 2018
NigeriaPHYSEA
By MOHAMMED MOMOH

Civil society organisations in Nigeria want Amnesty International (AI) expelled from the country over its claims of rights abuses by the military.

The Coalition of Civil Society Groups Against Terrorism in Nigeria vowed to force the lobby group out if the government failed to do so.

Group coordinator Odeyemi Oladimeji said Amnesty International cannot continually undermine national security.

"Amnesty International has engaged in covert and clandestine operations through deliberate inciting and false allegations against the Nigerian military,” Mr Oladimeji said.

Clandestine operations

“We have observed that AI activities in Nigeria are undoubtedly covert and clandestine operations meant to undermine our security and foreign policies, by deliberately, inciting and making false allegations against our military, especially the Nigerian army."

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However, the lobby group challenged the Nigerian authorities to act on the claims of rape of women and girls in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in north-east, instead of doubting and castigating the Wednesday report.

AI director Osai Ojigho said Nigeria should commit to the protection of human rights of people displaced by the Boko Haram.

President Muhammadu Buhari's media aide Garba Shehu and the military authorities have strongly discredited the AI report.

The natural law

“This… is just a wild goose chase report, in essence… the report seemed like the one in 2015, and the one in 2016, and the one after that year, the same things being recycled again and again,” Mr Shehu said.

The military also in a statement warned that the Amnesty report and similar others, could demoralise its members and hurt the war against insurgency.

“This malicious trend by AI is becoming a frequent ritual and it is rather unfortunate,” the statement reads.

“In times like this, Amnesty International is expected to apply the natural law of liaison by working with security agencies as partners."

The military assured Nigerians that it remained committed to observing all human rights as enshrined in the constitution.

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