Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana,
has said the Nigerian Army will pay dearly for soldiers’ alleged killing
of members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria.
Falana told SUNDAY PUNCH on
Thursday that the Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Tukur Buratai, and soldiers
who “protected” him during the Zaria fatal shootings that left scores
dead should not have taken the law into their hand.
According to the activist, it is also
regrettable that the Nigerian Army reportedly said it had no regrets for
killing members of the IMN, “demolishing their houses and holding
Ibrahim el-Zakzaky and his wife incommunicado.”
Falana said, “I have condemned the
government over the unwarranted military attack on the members of the
Shiites movement in Zaria. “Assuming without conceding that some
criminal elements constituted public nuisance by blocking a major
highway which affected the movement of the Chief of Army Staff who was
going to pay a courtesy call on a traditional ruler, the police ought to
have been called in to remove the nuisance. A chief of army staff is an
ordinary citizen who is subject to the rule of law. The law does not
permit him to resort to self-help by asking armed troops to start
killing unarmed civilians.
“When the residence of the late Fela
Anikulapo-Kuti was set on fire by the ‘Unknown Soldier’ under the
(Olusegun) Obasanjo-led military dictatorship in 1978, the Supreme Court
lambasted the government. Even though the action was dismissed the apex
court held that by virtue of section 6 of the Constitution the
government could henceforth be sued and be made liable for unleashing
barbaric assaults on citizens.” Falana said he was convinced that the
Nigerian army would pay dearly for the reckless killing of unarmed
civilians in Zaria.
pUNCH
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