….alleged that Modus Operandi Of The Stone Age Continued To Envelope Military Operations In Nigeria
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – In eight years, precisely between August 2015 to December 2023, Nigerian Military has promoted crude culture of impunity and above the law among its conscripted officers and combatants who have brazenly refused to restrict themselves to the Military’s clearly defined operational mandates and limitations placed on it by the country’s Statutes including the 1999 Constitution, the Armed Forces of 2004, the Access to Criminal Justice Act of 2015, the Firearms Act of 2004 and the Fundamental Human Rights provisions in the country’s 1999 Constitution and the Treaty Laws of the Federation, etc.
Intersociety in a statement signed by Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chair, Chidinma Udegbunam, Head, Campaign and Publicity and Ositadinma Agu, Head, Int’l Contacts and Mobilization, made available to Sundiata Post, added that Nigerian Military has earned notoriety in unlawful use of ‘Generalization’, ‘False Labeling’, ‘Class Criminalization’, ‘Ethno-Religious Profiling’, ‘State Censorship’, ‘Partisanship/Biasness’ and ‘Jungle Justice’; leading to incessant abduction and disappearance or killing of several hundreds of unarmed Nigerians on monthly basis particularly non Muslim ‘sedentary’ and ‘pastoral’ citizens of Old Eastern Nigeria.
The group maintained that it is totally disappointed but not surprised at the two statements of defense issued two days ago by the Nigerian Military Defense Headquarters regarding the Dec 24 and 25 grisly, egregious, unprovoked, unwarranted, coordinated and conspiratorial massacre of over 200 defenseless Christians in three Christian-held Local Government Areas of Plateau State by the Nigerian Government-protected Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen. The Nigerian Military (Army, Air Force and Navy) had also claimed outside the law that in its first statement of that day that “it neutralized (killed) 6,880 “terrorists” (including “464” in the South-East) in 2023 and “arrested 6,970”. Intersociety unequivocally and knowledgeably states that the two statements by the Nigerian Military are not only watery, unprofessional and vexatious but also bear the stark attributes of the Failed State of Somalia’s Gendarmes in the era and post era of Late Gen Mohammed Siad Barre (Oct 21, 1969-Jan 26, 1991) till date.
It must be noted that the Nigerian Military’s internal security operations particularly since August 2015 are not only nothing to write home going by modern military science and professionalism including respect for human rights and adherence to the rule of law and ethical codes of conduct; but also such “internal operations” have been characterized by crude and false gallantry, operational inconsistencies, contradictions and falsehood; partisanship, biasness and selectiveness; generalization, false labeling and class criminalization; spinning and mangling of figures (dead and wounded); incessancy of killing or abduction and disappearance of unarmed citizens on phantom and indiscriminate allegations of “involvement in terrorism”. The Nigerian Military’s “internal security operations” are also characterized by ethno-religious profiling and stigmatization; inter-agency usurpation and quackery including stark illiteracy in the knowledge of use of force; jungle-justice, brutalities, corruption and transfer of criminal responsibilities; stark illiteracy in the knowledge and workings of the rule of the rule of law and citizens’ constitutional liberties including the ‘citizens’ right to self defense; and stark illiteracy in the knowledge of modern military science, ICT and civil-military relations; to mention but a few.
Recall that the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), is Nigeria’s leading and respected Human Rights and Democracy Voice since 2008.
