The Federal Government of Nigeria says that Amnesty International cannot be taken seriously because it has a penchant for siding with terrorists “before the liberty of those they injure, displace and murder.”
The presidency’s statement is apparently a response to Amnesty International’s on the federal government to “end enforced disappearances” in the country.
AI had written in its report: “Nigerian security forces’ attempts to clamp down on Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) militants have led to arbitrary arrests, detentions, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions in the Southeast and Niger Delta area of Nigeria.”
But Garba Shehu, the president’s spokesman, said in a statement on Wednesday that Amnesty’s latest salvo is not in any way different from what the organization is known for – speaking the language of universal human rights, but deploying it “only in defence – even outright promotion – of those that violently oppose the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
The Presidency also accused Amnesty of hypocrisy, saying that were the group in a western country, the organization would not have defended IPOB, an outlawed organization which, according to him, has “amassed a substantial stockpile of weapons and bombs across the country.”
“Instead, there would be silence or mealy-mouthed justification of western governments’ action to check the spread of ‘terrorism’,” Shehu said.
“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,” he said.
Shehu said that the international human rights organization has no legal right to exist in Nigeria, and it must open a formal investigation into the personnel that occupy their Nigerian offices.
He accused them of basing their claims on “tendentious misinformation” they receive from questionable sources.
“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,” he stressed.
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