Chairman, Senate Committee on Army, Senator Ali Ndume has warned the International Criminal Court (ICC) and Amnesty International against further harassment of the Nigerian military over alleged rights abuses.
He gave the warning in an interaction with journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, saying he would formally move a motion on the floor of the Senate to warn the two international organisations.
Recall that ICC’s outgoing prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda last week issued a preliminary determination to investigate Nigerian Security Forces for crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Amnesty International in a December 8 report titled ‘Nigeria: My heart is in pain – Older people’s experience of conflict displacement and detention in North-East Nigeria’ accused the military of human rights violations.
Reacting, the Senate Army Committee chair said the ICC and Amnesty International were crying more than the bereaved.
He said it was the duty of the Nigerian government to investigate alleged rights abuses against the military in the first instance.
Ndume said only when the government has failed could the attention of the international community be drawn.
“You cannot cry more than the bereaved and they cannot be the prosecutor without the plaintiff. How can they prosecute without the plaintiff? We have the Nigerian Government, the federal parliament and the nation’s judiciary.
“If there are human rights abuses, it is only when there is a failure on the part of the three arms of government to act swiftly that we can draw the attention of the international community to it.
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“There was a kind of confusion that led to the isolated cases of human rights abuses by the Nigerian Army and some of the armed forces. However, we stood up against it that time and that led to some soldiers court-martialed for human rights abuses.
“Some were even dismissed from the Army. For example, for involving in rape cases; it is not that the Nigerian Army is not doing anything about it. There is a department known as civil-military relations, created by the Nigerian Army to address such cases and they are doing well.
“The power of investigation lies with the National Assembly. Nigerians know where they would report cases of human rights abuses in case it happens anywhere.
“Let the Amnesty International and others leave us alone. These are the same international organisations that refused to give us support needed to fight the insurgency,” Ndume said.
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