Presidency
replies Amnesty International, vows to fight terrorism to standstill
The Presidency has condemned
Amnesty International’s latest salvo at Nigeria, regretting that “they have
decided to side with terrorists, before the liberty of those they injure,
displace and murder’’.
Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior
Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, made the
government’s position known in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.
Reports have it that the presidency was reacting to Amnesty
International’s recent claim that the Federal Government is harassing its
critics and other militias.
The presidential aide,
however, dismissed the allegation, saying the government will continue to fight
terrorism with all the means at its disposal, no matter the criticism it faces
for doing so.
“Amnesty International’s latest salvo at Nigeria is but more of
the same.
“Again, they have decided to
side with terrorists, before the liberty of those they injure, displace and
murder.
“Speaking the language of universal human rights, Amnesty
International deploys it only in defence – even outright promotion – of those
that violently oppose the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“Parroting the line of Nnamdi
Kanu and IPOB, a proscribed terror organisation, they work to legitimise its
cause to Western audiences.
“This puts them in bad company. Controversial American lobbyists
are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to do the same, laundering
IPOB’s reputation in Washington DC.
“IPOB murder Nigerian
citizens. They kill police officers and military personnel and set government
property on fire.
“Now, they have amassed a substantial stockpile of weapons and
bombs across the country. Were this group in a western country, you would not
expect to hear Amnesty’s full-throated defence of their actions.
“Instead, there would be silence or mealy-mouthed justification
of western governments’ action to check the spread of ‘terrorism’, the
statement read in part.
The presidential aide also accused Amnesty International of
playing local politics in Nigeria.
He said: “Despite Amnesty’s self-proclaimed mandate to
impartially transcend borders, unfortunately in Nigeria they play only domestic
politics.
“The international NGO is being used as cover for the
organisation’s local leaders to pursue their self-interests. Regrettably, this
is not uncommon in Africa.
“There is nothing wrong with an activist stance; there are
claims of neutrality when all facts point to the opposite.”
According to him, Amnesty International has no legal right to
exist in Nigeria, saying it must open a formal investigation into the personnel
that occupy their Nigerian offices.
“They should reject the outrageously tendentious misinformation
they receive and bring some semblance of due diligence to the sources they base
their claims on. Currently, we see none.
“The Nigerian government will fight terrorism with all the means
at its disposal.
“We will ignore Amnesty’s rantings. Especially when it comes
from an organisation that does not hold itself to the same standards it demands
of others,’’ he stated.
Nigeria news paper
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