Although civil societies and social media owners operating in United States of America, whose interest Amnesty International is believed to be working for to the detriment of Nigeria, do not allow manipulation of the sovereignty of their own country, they do it with impunity in Africa’s most populous nation, many have complained.
This complaint heightened following a call, recently, by the Amnesty International for the arrest of immediate past service chiefs of Nigeria, which the complainers viewed as unwarranted permission by the sitting government of President Muhammadu Buhari for the foreign group to rubbish the respected country under his watch.
President Buhari’s gentility has been explained on many occasions to be in the exercisation of promised principle of Converted Democrat which has shocked many that waited to hang over his military disposition of the 1984-1985 era to tag him a dictator.
Despite the gentility and commitment to the rule of law, the Nigerans said Punch, a newspaper in the country still went ahead to refuse to address the President as he wanted to be officially addressed away from military prefixes and it insisted that Buhari is a dictator and, as its editorial policy, so addresses him a ‘Major General’. They cited Uganda and other nations across the world which do not take what one of them described as “the nonsense” that Nigeria government lately has allowed from the likes of AI and social media handlers “and heavens did not, have not and will never fall”.
As if corroborating the ventilated pains of the complainers, an official response to the call by Amnesty International came on Tuesday from the Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, when he lampooned the international civil society over its call for the arrest and prosecution of former Service Chiefs by asking it to produce evidence against the successful former military leaders or keep quiet.
AI had in its recent report, called for the arrest and prosecution of the service chiefs at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged human rights violation in the prosecution of war against terror in the North-East region.
Speaking on “Politics Nationwide,” a Radio Nigeria programme reportedly monitored by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja, Mohammed Alhaji said the global human rights protection organisation should “shut up because it had no proof of crimes committed by the Nigerian military’’.
He said the country was fighting an unconventional war with insurgency that had no rule of engagement, adding that this was a double jeopardy for the military which had been applying the rule of engagement.
“Those who are asking our soldiers to be invited to the ICC are very unpatriotic, its a pure hypocrisy and double standard, especially on the path of AI.
“AI have different laws for different countries, so they should shut up if they have no proof of any crime committed by our soldiers,” the minister said.
He recalled the stand of AI during the EndSARS protests when it asked the Federal Government not to arrest and prosecute hoodlums who killed police men and burnt down police stations.
“When the Federal Government wanted to arrest hoodlums who killed 37 policemen, six soldiers, destroyed properties, burn down police stations, AI said they are innocent people.
“In the U.S., some mobs went to Capitol Hill to protest the election that brought President Joe Biden, America said it was an insurrection but AI never deemed it fit to say anything,” he said.
He said the AI had shown that it had different laws for Nigeria and another for the U.S.
The minister also said that the recent rating by Transparency International ranking Nigeria as the second most corrupt in Africa was not a true reflection of the Federal Government on its fight against corruption
He said that the Federal Government was still studying the reports, adding that the government anti-corruption fight was on course.
The minister described the ranking as “inappropriate’’, stressing that it was not a true reflection of the efforts of the government at stamping out corruption in the country.
