In a statement on Wednesday, signed by Garba Shehu, the presidency heavily criticized amnesty international over its ‘support’ for Pro-secession groups like IPOB.The statement read; “Amnesty International’s latest salvo at Nigeria is but more of the same.”
“Again, they have decided to side with terrorists, before the liberty of those they injure, displace and murder.”
“Speaking the language of universal human rights, Amnesty International
deploys it only in defence – even outright promotion – of those that
violently oppose the Federal Government of Nigeria. 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. Controversial American lobbyists are paid hundreds of thousands
of dollars annually to do the same, laundering IPOB’s reputation in
Washington DC.”
“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.”
“Despite Amnesty’s self-proclaimed mandate to impartially transcend
borders, unfortunately in Nigeria they play only domestic politics. The
international NGO is being used as cover for the organisation’s local
leaders to pursue their self-interests. Regrettably, this is not
uncommon in Africa. There is nothing wrong with an activist stance;
there are claims of neutrality, when all facts point to the opposite.”
“Amnesty International
has no legal right to exist in Nigeria. It must open a formal
investigation into the personnel that occupy 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.”
“The Nigerian government will fight terrorism with all the means at its
disposal. We will ignore Amnesty’s rantings. Especially when it comes
from an organisation that does not hold itself to the same standards it
demands of others.”
