HURIWA Asks Embassies to Reject Allegations against Buratai, Others

HURIWA Asks Embassies to Reject  Allegations against Buratai, Others

Tobi Soniyi

The Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA) has asked embassies in Nigeria to discountenance allegations of human rights violations made against immediate past Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai by a group known as the Eastern Rights and Intelligentsia Coalition.

The right group in a statement by its National Coordinator Mr Emmanuel Onwubiko and National Media Affairs Director Miss. Zainab Yusuf, defended the records of Buratai as well as other immediate past service chiefs recently named as envoys by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Amnesty International had issued reports detailing alleged human rights violations committee on the watch of Buratai.
Among others, Amnesty International accused the army of extra judicial killings, torture, extortion, arbitrary arrest and detention as well as sexual philandering or exploitation.
But HURIWA dismissed the reports as baseless.

The group noted that even though the military under Buratai disagreed with reports of gross violations of human rights alleged by the human rights watchdog, the retired army chief put measures in place to eliminate rights abuses by the personnel of the Nigerian Army.

It described the retired military chiefs as reputable Nigerian statesmen with unblemished records of professional services rendered to Nigeria who have no case in any local or international judicial fora.

HURIWA said it wrote letters to 31 embassies against the backdrop of earlier letters to same embassies by the Eastern Rights and Intelligentsia Coalition calling for the prosecution of the former service chiefs at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, Netherlands for crimes against humanity and human rights breaches.

The statement said: “On assumption of duty in July 2015, Lt Gen TY Buratai was never in doubt as to the enormous challenges he has to surmount in order to restore the dignity of an army and the nation terribly shattered by Boko Haram terrorists.

“As a disciplined military strategist, he understood the key roles of excellent Civil Military Relations/Cooperation particularly in a period of multiple and dynamic security challenges such as terrorism, farmers – herdsmen clashes and violent secessionist agitation among others.

“To this end, he instantly reorganized and empowered the Department of Civil – Military Affairs (DCMA) to function effectively, especially in the campaign for the protection and respect for human rights by the Nigerian Army.”

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