Secret Execution of six soldiers: Why Nigeria army is silent – Rights Group

Army’s Anonymous Denial Is Purposive Admission Of Complicity & Total Failure In Providing Answers To 13 Key Questions …Eastern Nigeria’s Rights & Intelligentsia Coalition.

The Nigerian army’s anonymous denial of its involvement with its immediate past Chief of Staff (COAS), Retired Lt Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai in the secret and most horrendous execution of six Igbo Christian soldiers inside the Abacha Barracks in Abuja on Monday, 25^th Jan 2021; is a clear case of ‘purposive admission of criminal responsibility’. If it is in criminal court trial, it becomes ‘mens rea proven’. We are boldly glad and happy that Barr E.R. Okoroafor, a member of the Coalition and originator of the information had in his phone interview with the Abuja Correspondent of the Int’l Center for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) yesterday’s evening (2th Feb 2021) insisted that the six Igbo Christian soldiers were secretly tried and executed and challenged the Army to not only produce them alive, hale and hearty, but also tell Nigerians and the world what actually happened including where the Army kept them and why they were kept as well as whether they were tried in secret and condemned for secret execution.

The Coalition makes bold to say that uploading montagepictures of the slain soldiers with “Fake News” written over same or hiring aconsultancy firm to write a statement signed by “an anonymous senior Armyofficer” is in no way a credible and concrete reply and ordinarily should notbe taken serious; but owing to psychological terrorization and chroniccensorship which media practitioners in the country have undergone and arestill undergoing, any crab from the Army or Government is now capable of makingbig headlines.That is to say thatthe Nigerian Army has not issued any concrete and provable denial statement asfar as the Coalition is concerned.As a matter of fact, the Nigerian Army has ended up indirectly admittingcriminal responsibility in the matter. TheCoalition also did not issue that aspect of the statement for Nigerian Armyto accept or deny because falsehood, lying, cover-ups and evidence destructionhave been its routine and modus since 2015.

Even after massacring hundreds of defenseless Easterners in 2015and 2016, the same Nigerian Army set up a kangaroo panel in 2017 and in the endclaimed that “no single citizen was killed in the East”. Same Nigerian Army haskept mute over its abduction of over 400 Obigbo residents in Rivers State. Thisis despite concretely evidential court processes and decisions including therelease of 145 of the abductees, secretly and inhumanly thrown into solitarycaptivity for more than three months or since 21^st Oct and early Nov2020. Till today, the Nigerian Army has refused to speak or release the remainingabductees unconditionally or remorsefully apologize to the victims andNigerians and hold the perpetrators tightly accountable. On the other hand, theArmy is hereby mockingly ‘commended’ for not declaring the names of the slainsoldiers as “fake names”,  “not belongingto Nigerian Army”; or declaring their pictures as having “originated from CongoDRC or Central African Republic or Burundi”.

Defining Secret Trial Or CourtMartial

Contrary to Nigerian Army’s gross ignorant with regard to ‘secrettrial or court martial’, this is whenlike in military setting, service personnel are accused with malicious or premeditatedand hateful intents and arraigned in a trial with a predetermined outcome;during which all ingredients of fair hearing and trial are set aside or stifled-andthese include:  denying the accused accessto defense lawyers of their choice, denying them access to their family membersand physicians, conducting their trials outside official publicity and public knowledge,blocking or denying them right of appeal to Civil Courts (Court of Appeal andSupreme Court) and carrying out secret execution of the court-martial convictsoutside the law including without recourse to Nigeria’s existing National Moratoriumon Death Penalty.

13 Key Questions Nigerian ArmyFailed To Answer

The Nigerian Army has not provided concrete answers to thefollowing: (1) whether the six slain IgboChristian soldiers and their names, religion and ethnicity exist in the Army oron its records, (2) whether the four pictures as produced belong to theascribed serving personnel of the Nigerian Army, (3) whether they were made toundergo any form of trial within the Army, (4) whether they were tried in anymanner with the stated allegations, (5) whether their trial, if true, wasconducted in the presence of their family, legal and medical representativesincluding allowing them access to lawyers of their choice, (6) whether the sixIgbo soldiers were defended by lawyers of their choice, (7) whether they wereallowed to exercise their right of appeal to Court of Appeal and Supreme Courtand (8) whether the Nigerian Army issued any public statement concerning theirtrial or notified their beloved ones and the public.

The rest are: (9) if theywere executed, whether it was done secretly or in the open and if in the open,whether their lawyers, physicians, faith priests and family members werepresent-these, if true, should have been attached with audio-visual evidence showingsame, (10) where the Nigerian Army and its immediate past COAS, Retired Lt GenTukur Buratai derived powers to order the execution, whether in secret or inthe open, of soldiers including the six slain Igbo Christian soldiers (unjustlyand wickedly convicted), convicted by Army Court Martial, (11) if they arestill alive and detained as ‘death row inmates’,  where they are being held, condition of theirhealth and circumstances leading to their present fate, (12) why the NigerianArmy  failed to produce them publicly, ifthey are still alive, hale and hearty and (13) why Nigerian Army, infurtherance of the above, did not update Nigerians as per whether it has alsosecretly executed or still keeping alive another Igbo soldier convicted andsentenced to death by firing squad in Maiduguri, Borno State in Jan 2021, byname: Trooper Azunna Mmadubuchi.

Signatories:

·        EmekaUmeagbalasi (M.Sc.), Board Chair, Int’l Society for Civil Liberties & Ruleof Law

·        ProfAnthony Ejiofor-Chairman, World Igbo Congress (USA)

·        ProfUzodimma Nwala-President, Ala-Igbo Dev Foundation (ADF)

·        ProfJustice Chidi-President, Concerned Elites for Better Society Initiative

·        ProfJustin Akujieze-Board Chairman, Ekwenche Research Institute (USA)

·        Dr. MosesNwaigwe-President, Biafra Genocide Survivors Group (USA)

·        AustinOkeke, Esq.-Global Leader, Igbo Board of Deputies (UK)

·        Kanayo K.Odeluga, MD., MPH-Executive Director, Igbo League, Inc.(USA)

·        Mercy Alu, MBA, PhD-ExecutiveCoordinator (Research), the Int’l Association of African Authors & Scholars(USA)

·        Dr. OnyenkachiOrjiako, Esq.-Rep, Int’l  Society for WarAgainst Lawlessness (USA)

·        Mazi ObiOkoli-Coordinator, Congress of Igbo Leaders UK & Ireland

·        Dr. LawMefor-Rep, Igbo Bu Igbo (IBI)

·        Dr.Okezie Kelechi-ED, Neighborhood Environment Watch Foundation

·        Dr. JerryChidozie Chukwuokoro-Rep, Int’l Solidarity for Peace & Human RightsInitiative

·        ComradesChilos Godsent & Zulu Ofoelue-Reps, Igbo National Council

·        EzekwikeChekwube Violet, Esq.-Founder, New Home Mentoring & Dev Initiative

·        Comrade AloysiusAttah-Chair, Civil Liberties Organization, Southeast

·        MaaziTochukwu Ezeoke, President, Igbo Ekunie Initiative

·        ComradeJustine Ijeomah-ED, Human Rights Social Dev & Environmental Foundation(HURSDEF)

·        ComradeVincent Ezekwueme-Chair, Civil Liberties Organization, Anambra State

·        Comrade PeterOnyegiri-ED, Center for Human Rights & Peace Advocacy

·        Comrade AlexOlisa-Rep, Southeast Good Governance Forum

·        Comrade NnanaNelson Nwafor-ED, Foundation for Environment Rights Advocacy & Dev.

·        Comrade NkwochaAnozie-ED, Initiative for Ideal Dev & Emancipatory Leadership

·        Comrade EmekuUche-Rep, Easy-life Initiative for Rural Youths

·        ComradeSamuel Njoku-Chair, Human Rights Organization of Nigeria

·        ComradeNgwobia O. Ngwobia-Rep Primate Salvation Initiative

·        NzeUgoAkpe Onwuka (Oyi)-National Coordinator, Igbo Renaissance Forum