The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Intersociety, has petitioned the Secretary General of United Nations, UN, Commonwealth Secretary General and the chief Prosecutor of ICC and others over the massacre of Christians in Nigeria. The group accused the federal government and security agencies of being complicit, saying that no fewer than 1,421 Christians have been hacked to death by Jihadist Boko Haram elements between January to July 2020.
In its latest report Intersociety said “it is continuously alarmed over ceaseless and untamed massacre of Christians in Nigeria or any part thereof and the lackadaisical attitude and strongly suspected complicity of the present central Government and its security forces.
“It is specifically shocking that in the past seven months of 2020 or 1st Jan to 31st July 2020, no fewer than 1,421 Christians have been hacked to death, out of which Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen accounted for 1,027 deaths, Jihadist Boko Haram and ISWAP over 310 deaths and Jihadist Ansaru and Jihadist “Bandits” over 60. The total Christian deaths of 1,421 included “24 dark figures”.
According to the group, this is a summary of three letters it wrote differently and electronically submitted to the Secretary General of UN, Antonio Guterres, Commonwealth Secretary General, Rt. Hon Patricia Scotland (QC) and Chief Prosecutor of ICC, Ms Fatou Bensouda on one part; and US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, His Holiness Pope Francis and the High Commissioners/Ambassadors of Australia, Canada, Israel, Norway, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Ireland on the other.
The third letter Intersociety said was also jointly and separately sent to the European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS and Ambassadors of Netherlands, Finland, Poland, Germany, France, Czech Republic, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Austria and Sweden.
It said “In our letter to the UN Secretary General, the Commonwealth Secretary General and the Chief Prosecutor of ICC, they were reminded that it will be gravely calamitous to sit and watch by and allow Nigeria, a country of multi-ethnicity and multi-religions with explosive population of over 200m people; to explode into ‘complex humanitarian emergencies’; incapable of being managed if allowed to explode. Calling for their immediate intervention to save Nigerian Christians and exert pressure on Nigerian authorities to respect and enforce rights to life and religious freedoms; the ICC Prosecutor was specifically called upon to break the Int’l Criminal Court’s long years of silence and inaction regarding the ongoing butcheries in Nigeria including its long delays to do the needful since 2010 when it claimed to have “opened investigations on Nigeria”.
The Secretary General of Commonwealth, Rt. Hon Patricia Scotland was reminded about the Harare Commonwealth Declaration (1991) which affirmed that human rights are among the fundamental political values of the Commonwealth and that the Commonwealth Charter, agreed to by the Commonwealth’s Heads of Government in 2012 also underscores the commitment of Member States to Commonwealth principles and values inclusive of human rights.
“For US Secretary of State and His Holiness Pope Francis and High Commissioners/Ambassadors of EU, Canada, Australia, UK, Brazil, Israel and others, our letter called on them to intervene, including launching their own investigations into the anti-Christian butcheries in Nigeria or any part thereof and ascertaining roles played and still being played in the butcheries by the present Government of Nigeria; all for purposes of incorporating their findings into their general and specific relationships with Government of Nigeria particularly in the areas of development and humanitarian assistance, military aids and supplies, economic and diplomatic relationships or actions.
