Emene Massacre: Int’l Society Asks FG To Dismiss Security Chiefs

Human right organisation, Int’l Society for Civil Liberties & Rule of Law, has called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to investigate security chiefs in Enugu who were involved in the IPOB and security operatives clash that brought about the death of over twenty persons at Emene, Enugu State on August 23, 2020.

The organisation in a strongly worded letter to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Boss Mustapha, dated Friday, September 18, 2020, asked the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Retired IGP Musiliu Smith to “promptly, thoroughly, independently, impartially and conclusively’ investigate and dismiss or recommend for dismissal from the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Navy, the Nigeria Police Force and Nigeria’s State Security Service of five complicit senior security officers indicted in our special report on Emene massacre of Sunday, 23rd August 2020 which was released on Sunday, 13th Sept 2020.”

The letter to the SGF was dated 18th Sept 2020 and referenced: Int.003/9/20/SGF/FGN/NG while that of the PSC was dated same date and referenced: Int.004/9/20/PSC/ABJ/NG named complicit security officers to include: Police AIG, Danmallam Mohammed, AIG, Zone 13, Anambra State;  Police Commissioner, Ahmad Abdurrahman, CP, Enugu State Police Command; Director Obande Olotu, immediate past Director of SSS, Enugu State; Major Gen Lasisi A. Adegboye, GOC, 82 Div, Enugu and Air Vice Marshal Idi Amin, Air Officer Command, Ground Training Command, Nigerian Air Force Base, Enugu.

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According to the organisation, they want the officers axed because, “the named complicit officers were not only directly or vicariously involved in the massacre, but also gravely abused their offices and powers and acted abusively, crudely, hatefully and murderously.”

They posited that while the Police Service Commission was called upon to act based on powers vested on it by the PSC Act of 2001 and the 1999 Constitution by investigating and dismissing the duo of AIG Danmallam Mohammed and CP Ahmad Abdurrahman, the SGF,  was asked to exercise his investigative and enquiry powers provided in the Constitution by constituting a probe team to investigate the roles and involvements of the trio of GOC Adegboye, AOC Idi Amin and Director Obande and issuing far reaching recommendations to the Nigerian Army Council, the Nigerian Air Force Council and authorities of the SSS (DSS) including dismissal of the named three senior security officers.

“Our letters to SGF and PSC were delivered to them by our lawyers on Friday, 18th Sept 2020, the same day they were dated and were duly received by the desk officers at the offices of the SGF and the PSC with acknowledgment copies duly signed and stamped for our lawyers.

“The two letters were signed by our five principal officers: Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chair, Chinwe Umeche, Esq., Head of Democracy & Good Governance, Damaris Amaka Onuoha, Esq., Head of Campaign & Publicity, Obianuju Igboeli, Esq., Head of Civil Liberties & Rule of Law and Samuel Kamanyaoku, Head of Field Data Collection & Documentation. The five principal officers of our organization also signed this media statement,” they organization points out.

The letter also  pointed out that on the same date, (18th Sept 2020) they submitted two letters to the United Nations and leaders of western democracies, drawing their attention to the special report and praying that they should internationally blacklist or declare the named indicted security chiefs as international personae non gratae, noting that the recipients include United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Dr Agnes Callamard, US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, US Ambassador to Nigeria, Ms Mary Beth Leonard, Chair and Co-Chair of the All Party (UK) Parliamentary Group for Int’l Freedom of Religion or Belief, Jim Shannon, MP and Baroness Caroline Cox, the UK High Commissioner to Nigeria and High Commissioners of Canada and Australia as well as Ambassadors of Norway, Ireland, Switzerland and Brazil.

The letters to the international communities were referenced: Intersociety/NG/.02/9/20/int’l/Governments and  Intersociety/NG/.02/9/20/EU/Int., respecitively addressed to H.E., Ketil Karlson, Head of Delegation of the European Mission to Nigeria & ECOWAS and Ambassadors of Netherlands, Finland, Poland, Germany, France, Spain, Czech, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Portugal, Greece, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Sweden.

The two int’l letters further prayed their highly respected recipients to ‘take into critical account the horrible human rights records and profiles of the five named senior Nigerian security officers’ and ensure that ‘weapons and humanitarian and development aids secured in the west are not used to massacre defenseless and innocent citizens in Nigeria particularly on the grounds of their Religious Belief, or Ethnicity and Class’.