The revelation about Prof Amupitan – Why I am not surprised?

By Dr UCHE DIALA

“The alleged involvement of the State and non-State actors in the commission of crimes under international law in Nigeria has complicated an already complex situation”.

A recent scoop by Sahara Reporters has revealed troubling contents of a legal brief authored in 2020 by Professor Josh Amupitan who was recently appointed the Chairman of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

In the legal brief titled – GENOCIDE IN NIGERIA – THE IMPLICATIONS FOR THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY”, the professor stated among other things that:

“It is a notorious fact that there is perpetration of crimes under international law in Nigeria, particularly crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.”

“While the country is trying to manage the concerns engendered by the clamour for self-determination, two violent extremist groups have emerged to exacerbate an already deteriorating situation… Boko Haram and the Fulani herdsmen, responsible for an orgy of bloodbath and massive displacements in many States across Nigeria.”

“The victims of the crises are mainly the Christian population and the minority ethnic groups in Nigeria, and hence the need for remedial actions under the international law.”

The “basis of intervention is (Nigerian) government’s neglect of its constitutional responsibility to provide welfare and security for the citizenry being the primary purpose of government.”

“Following the 19th century jihad of Uthman Dan Fodio, the Hausa territories were conquered and the Sokoto Caliphate established… The success of the jihad was one of the religious triumphalism that aimed at expanding the caliphate to other parts of Nigeria in the irrevocable bid to dip the Quran into the Atlantic Ocean in Lagos.”

“States are skeptical of naming ‘genocide’ the way it is to avoid committing resources to stop it and to punish perpetrators.”

“Such States easily find cover under the principle of complementarity… Concealing genocide becomes a strategy to guard sovereignty and protect ego, at the expense of innocent lives.”

“There is nothing as devastating as losing a group whose identity enjoys some specificity, uniqueness, and permanency that can neither be replaced nor easily replaceable.”

“The alleged involvement of the State and non-State actors in the commission of crimes under international law in Nigeria has complicated an already complex situation”.

“Consequently, the situation beckons the urgent need for a neutral and impartial third-party intervention, especially the UN and its key organs, the military and economic superpowers.”

“In a globalised world, State sovereignty diminishes to accommodate the common interests of the global community concretised by a mixture of consent, consensus and compelling norms.”

Now, why am I not surprised, as much as I am thoroughly disappointed?

Because that is the level that several individuals went to in trying to discredit Buhari and destabilize his administration, inspite of his verifiable efforts as President, including in addressing the very issue of insecurity, including the Boko Haram menace which he inherited.

Professor Amupitan was not alone. There were so many other intellectuals and academics; East, West, North and South, who I referred to then as “evil intellectuals”, who deployed their intellectualism, intelligence and privileged status to play similar or worse roles, simply out of pure hatred (no better description) for Buhari driven by political, tribal and or religious jingoism and bigotry.

Today, many of these individuals are curiously acknowledging something which they and most Nigerians always knew, which is that, while there are unacceptable levels of insecurity and killings in Nigeria, the insecurity and killings, in the most part, are not deliberately targeted at any particular tribe, region, group or religion, neither are they exclusively perpetrated by people from any particular tribe, region, group or religion, nor is there Nigerian state sanction or involvement for it to rise to the status of a ‘genocide’. Except we are talking about a genocide against all Nigerians.

That was true under President Jonathan, as it was true under President Buhari, as it is true under President Tinubu today.

Probably, these individuals and their likes believed that 8 years would be forever and that today won’t come when their sins would found them out. Now the chicken are coming home to roost.

It is important at this juncture to attempt to put this in deeper context beyond the outrage being expressed by many Nigerians. The actions and words of these “evil intellectuals” directly or indirectly, intended or unintended, gave the impetus, cover and justification to other tribal and religious jingoists as well as ethnic warlords and non state actors across the nation at the time. Two classic examples were Sunday Ighogho and Nnamdi Kanu.

The case of Nnamdi Kanu is peculiar and instructive. While Kanu was crude about his approach and words which inadvertently led to the loss of lives (mostly Christian and ‘minority’ lives, by the way), the words and actions of the likes of Professor Amupitan, Bishop Mathew Kukah, Bishop Wilfred Anagbe, Femi Fani Kayode, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, Governor Ortom, Reno Omokri, to mention a few, even though more academic, nuanced, and maybe seemingly altruistic and pious on the surface, had no less the same dire consequences or effect. They essentially gave the intellectual cover, in my view, while the gullible, ignorant and impressionable streets responded like the streets would.

Methinks that some kind of vicarious liability is indicated here. We must reason deeper and address these issues holistically. It can not be a mere coincidence that all these were happening at the same time.

Beyond all these, one ponders why these are coming to bear at this time and why it seems many of these individuals are dovey dovey with President Tinubu and his administration today, bearing in mind that the President himself had flown the same exact narrative of persecution of Christians in Nigeria in 2014 under the Jonathan administration.

Yesterday, I wrote: “Incidentally, all the people that President Tinubu surrounded himself with who should speak up in his defence are complicit in the genocide tale”, and that was before the Amupitan story broke.

I honestly think that the President needs to do some soul searching of his own, and maybe some house cleansing. That might help him as he navigates the current situation and the fallouts of years of gerrymandering and playing politics with insecurity in Nigeria by political, religious, traditional and academic leaders alike stare us in the face.

The ball is squarely in the President’s court.

#GodBlessNigeria

©️ Uche Diala