Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri
The key to solving the decade-old Boko Haram crisis is the proper administration of justice, Amnesty International (AI), has said.
Speaking in Maiduguri on Saturday during a solidarity visit to about 2,000 women, whose husbands were allegedly detained by the military since over three years ago in connection with Boko Haram insurgency, the Country Director of Amnesty International, Nigeria Office (AIN), Mrs. Osai Ojigho, asked the federal government to ensure that all stakeholders in the crisis get justice.
She lamented that a situation where the husbands of the women are detained without recourse to the law court would further worsen the crisis and build bad blood.
“I know that it has not been easy for everyone, particularly the people of Borno State that have lost so much due to Boko Haram crisis, to heal from the pains. We have lost many lives, and communities. We can only reclaim lives if human rights are put on the front burner of all issues, whether at state, federal or local government level.
“We have been calling for justice – justice for everyone that has suffered loss of families, properties and livelihood; justice for those who have caused this pain, who have brought this calamity upon us.
“We have been calling for an end to this insurgency, for an end to injustice and in the course of this we discovered abnormalities on the fight against insurgency and how it has affected family life, women, children, fathers, uncle, grandfathers and grandmothers, the entire family cycle.
“Familes are no longer together; families that they do not know where their loved ones are whether they are dead or alive – even those that are alive have suffered great calamities that will remain with them for the rest of their lives and this is the story of KNIFAR Women. But to ensure this does not happen again we need to put in place law and systems that will punish those who commit these crimes, it is very important.
Earlier, the Executive Director Al-amin Foundation, also an NGO known as Jireh Dole Network, Hajjia Alamin Hamsatu, disclosed that a total of 2,000 women that separated from their husbands in Banki town, Bama Local Government Area, have come together under KNIFAR Foundation to demand for the whereabouts of their families.
“We have more than 2,000 women calling on the authority for where their sons, husbands and fathers from Banki, Bama town, in Borno State are.”
She lamented that these people were arrested and detained by authority for years with the public not knowing if they are alive or dead.
“Many of their children are asking after their parents but the mother didn’t have answer to them.
She said: “I never knew that the world could hear us, I am impressed with these support show AIN and supporters, we call on the CSOs to join us to demands for the release of these people.”
