• North must answer for war crimes against Igbo, Odi, Zaki-Biam, Katsina Ala-Chukwumerije

From ADETUTU FOLASADE-KOYI, AbujaChairman of the Committee on Education, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, yesterday joined issues with northern elders over the latter’s threat to drag the immediate-past Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Azubuike Ihejirika (retd) to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague.

Speaking against the backdrop of the threats, Chukwumerije warned that any attempt to take the matter further means that the North must be prepared to answer for crimes against Ndigbo, Odi, Zaki-Biam and Katsina Ala.

Besides, he argued at a press conference in Abuja that the Senate had rested the matter of the Baga killings in a resolution of Wednesday, June 26, 2013 wherein it was declared that the death toll of 185, “was exaggerated” as there were not  more than “37 deaths.”

The Senate had further resolved that, “this is possible as there is no documentary evidence from either the natives or the military to ascertain figures quoted. Although the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the company of some community youths counted 32 graves seven days after the incident, yet it is difficult to ascertain the actual number of casualties.”

Senator Chukwumerije stated that the northern plan would bring no good to any group in Nigeria.

His words: “The plan of northern elders to drag Ihejirika and six others to the ICC in Hague is capable of unleashing a national ill-will that will do no one (including Prof. Ango Abdullahi’s group) any good in this Federation.

“The approach of the group to a national problem is selective, patently biased apparently in search of preconceived culprits, pointedly indifferent to the demands of national unity and highly provocative to the sensibilities of all who genuinely desire the unity and stability of this Federation.

“The motives of Prof. Abdullahi and co, are obviously behind concerns about violations of human rights. This is so because the incident of Baga has been investigated and put to rest long ago.

“Every citizen, (including Prof. Abdullahi) knows that the anti-terrorism campaign in the North is a joint-military operation under the command of the Chief of Defence Staff. In singling out Lt. Gen Ihejirika, the then Army boss, the likes of Prof. Abdullahi are merely betraying old prejudices and embarking on a new hazardous search for bad names to hang hated dogs.

“Besides, the fact that Prof. Abdullahi and co sprung into action immediately Lt. Gen Ihejirika and six others left their commands has revealed the depth of long-smoldering resentment of the campaign against Boko Haram by the self-proclaimed leaders of the North. This raises a question about where their sympathy lies in this battle.

“There was the case of Zaki-Biam. There was the case of Odi in which a whole community was decimated. There was the case of Katsina Ala. If Odi did not arouse the conscience of Abdullahi because the people do not belong to his hallowed northern enclave, how about Zaki-Biam and Katsina Ala?”


Source: Sun