Nigeria: Human rights organization condemns offer of amnesty to Islamist perpetrators of violence

After Boko Haram committed terrorist attacks in Nigeria during the Easter holidays, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) condemned the Nigerian government’s plans to offer amnesty to Islamist perpetrators of violence. “There must be an end to violence and impunity in Nigeria, as soon as possible – but there hast to be justice as well. Crimes against humanity must be punished, not rewarded,” said Ulrich Delius, the STP’s director, in Göttingen on Easter Monday. Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari had publicly promoted an offer of amnesty to Boko Haram, despite the violence around Easter, to persuade the members of the terrorist group to put down their weapons. During the Easter holidays, at least 29 people were killed in attacks by Boko Haram violence in the state of Borno in the northeast of the country – and 102 people were injured.

At least 18 people were killed in the vicinity of Maiduguri town last night, and 84 people were injured when they fled from the villages of Bale Shuwa and Bale Kura due to clashes between Boko Haram and the security forces. On the evening of Good Friday, 11 people got killed in attacks by Boko Haram in the villages of Malumti and Muna Zawiya. “The ongoing attacks by the terrorist group show that the security forces – contrary to their statements – have so far not managed to defeat Boko Haram,” Delius emphasized.

“As the ongoing attacks might overshadow Buhari’s campaign for his re-election as President in February 2019, he now hopes to settle the conflict with an offer of amnesty for Boko Haram fighters,” Delius stated. “However, terrorists who deliberately use children and adolescents as suicide bombers, extremists who kidnap, humiliate and threaten to kill schoolgirls, should not be offered impunity. An amnesty for Boko Haram would clearly defy justice and the rule of law,” Delius explained. Further, the human rights advocate warned that the example of an amnesty for militiamen in the Niger Delta showed that an amnesty in Nigeria would most probably not help much to bring peace to the troubled region. 

The STP accused Buhari of false statements according to which the army had managed to defeat Boko Haram since his takeover in May 2015. “Now, Buhari will have to face the remnants of his failed policy – but the president still seems reluctant to address the real reasons behind Boko Haram’s terror,” Delius said.

Header Photo: Amanda Voisard via UN Photo