LAGOS, Nigeria
Amnesty International called on Nigerian authorities Wednesday to investigate at least nine top military commanders whom it alleged may have been complicit in the commission of gross war crimes in the country's insurgency-wracked northeast.
"Amnesty International is calling for Nigeria to ensure prompt, independent and effective investigations of the following military officers for potential individual or command responsibility for the war crimes of murder, torture and enforced disappearance detailed in this report," the global rights watchdog said in the capital Abuja at a news briefing while unveiling a new report.
The rights body said up to 8,000 Boko Haram suspects have died between 2011 and date in military detention facilities owing to ill-treatment under the hands of soldiers who allegedly tortured, starved, suffocated or murdered the suspects extra-judicially.
The commanders included the country's serving chief of defense staff Alex Badeh, the chief of army staff Kenneth Minimah and their predecessors Ola Saad and Azubuike Ihejirika who were chief of defense staff and army chief respectively.
“This sickening evidence exposes how thousands of young men and boys have been arbitrarily arrested and deliberately killed or left to die in detention in the most horrific conditions. It provides strong grounds for investigations into the possible criminal responsibility of members of the military, including those at the highest levels,” the report quoted Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s secretary general, as saying.
The body said the report offers compelling evidence of the need for an investigation into the individual and command responsibilities of soldiers, and mid-level and senior-level military commanders.
"The report outlines the roles and possible criminal responsibilities of those along the chain of command - up to the Chief of Defence Staff and Chief of Army Staff - and names nine senior Nigerian military figures who should be investigated for command and individual responsibility for the crimes committed," according to the report.
The rights body said nearly 20,000 young men and boys have been arrested and detained across the region since the crisis began in 2009 without trial, and that many of the detainees were picked up "arbitrarily" and based on weak evidence of any link to the terror network.
"We call on newly-elected President Buhari to end the culture of impunity that has blighted Nigeria and for the African Union and international community to encourage and support these efforts. As a matter of urgency, the President must launch an immediate and impartial investigation into the crimes detailed in Amnesty International’s report and hold all those responsible to account, no matter their rank or position. Only then can there be justice for the dead and their relatives."
Efforts to speak with the country's defense spokesman Chris Olukolade did not succeed as his telephone lines could not reached for comment to the latest report.
The army had last year dismissed another Amnesty International report which made similar allegations against the military, saying it lacked objectivity and fairness as the military high command were never contacted for comment before the report was published.
Nigeria is battling a six-year insurgency that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions.
