Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana(SAN) has requested for a federal government investigation into alleged killings of MASSOB and IPOB members in the South East, and Shiites in the North by Nigerian security forces.
Falana tasked the Federal government to set up a panel of inquiry that will investigate various allegations of human rights abuse and unlawful killing of innocent protesters.
According to Vanguard, Falana was speaking at the 2016 Law Week of the Jos branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, Jos where he presented a paper titled: War Against Corruption-Issues And Challenges Confronting The Judiciary.
Falana pointed out that Amnesty International last week released a damning report on the brutal killing of 150 members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) by the Nigerian Army and the army has denied the report. However, the Nigerian Army admitted that it killed 5 protesters instead of the 150 alleged by Amnesty International.
According to the activist, in joining issues with the human rights group, the Nigerian Army must have forgotten that it had issued a statement on May 31 this year wherein it acknowledged that ‘in the aftermath of the fire fight that ensued, many of our own troops sustained varying degrees of injury. These injured troops are currently receiving treatment at own medical centre.’
Falana recalled that the army statement claimed that “5 members of MASSOB/IPOB were killed, 8 wounded while 9 were arrested for due legal actions.” In driving home his point, Falana maintained that “it is public knowledge that a judicial commission of inquiry set up by the Kaduna State government has established that 347 members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria were massacred by the Nigerian Army in December 2015 for allegedly blocking a road in Zaria, Kaduna State during a religious convention.
“The peaceful protests to demand the release of the leader of the movement, Sheik Ibraheem Elzakzaky and his wife from illegal incarceration by the SSS have been violently suppressed under the pretext that the religious group has been banned.