In an interview with The PUNCH, a former Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Prof Bola Akinterinwa, said Nigeria could face not just an arms embargo, but sanctions.
Akinterinwa stated, “It goes beyond an embargo. There are many ways foreign countries respond to situations like this. If you use the US as an example, I can assure you that all those suspected government officials will be sanctioned in different ways, either by visa bans, withdrawal of privileges, or initiate a trial for them abroad.
“Some months ago, some US congressmen said they should not supply the Tucano ordered by Nigeria and they should stop selling arms to Nigeria. In this kind of situation, the likelihood of further sale of arms to Nigeria is remote. They are currently considering that.”
A retired Nigerian diplomat, Ambassador Joe Keshi, who served in the US, Togo, Ethiopia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Namibia and Sierra Leone, said indeed, Nigeria risked another arms embargo with the damning report on the killing of the #EndSARS protesters.
Keshi stated that the Nigeria police needed urgent reforms, including learning how to handle protesters.
He said the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, goofed by calling on Nigerians not to disparage the military when he could have just promised to investigate the issues raised in the report.
The retired diplomat said the Federal Government should admit that mistakes were made and apologise rather than attempting to pick holes in the panel’s report.
“That is true (arms embargo). And that is why it is so sad the way the authorities are reacting to this report. There should be a simple admission that a mistake was made,” Keshi said.
However, a former Deputy Director of the Department of State Services, Mike Ejiofor, said it would be too early to say if Nigeria would face an arms embargo.
Ejiofor said the international community would be watching to see how Nigeria would react to the report.
“Let us keep our fingers crossed. Let us wait to see how things go,” he said.
PDP Reps ask Blinken to probe violence against #EndSARS protesters, others
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party caucus in the House of Representatives has said the planned visit by the United States Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, to Nigeria is to address corruption, insecurity and human rights abuses under the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
It urged the visitor to ask questions about abuse of state power and use of violence to suppress peaceful protesters, particularly activists of the #EndSARS movement and campaigners for self-determination.
The leader of the PDP caucus, Kingsley Chinda, in a statement on Wednesday, also called on the Federal Government to assure Blinken that it would not use facilities provided by the US against Nigerians agitating legitimately.
Chinda in the statement titled, ‘PDP Reps Caucus says Blinken’s visit to Consider Human Rights Abuses, Insecurity and Corruption…Visit to Address Government’s Failure to Curb Terrorists Attacks’, added that the opposition lawmakers welcomed the visit of the US top official to Nigeria.
The caucus noted that the visit was timely, adding, “It is our expectation that he (Blinken) would use his visit to address the growing human rights abuses, increasing threats to democracy, insecurity and corruption in Nigeria.
“Just this week, a Brigadier-General was killed by ISWAP and this is in addition to the countless numbers of soldiers, who have been killed or grievously injured with the weightless and worthless remark of getting to the root of the matter.
“Our country cannot afford the luxury of losing military officers to terrorists when it can seek strategic military and counter-insurgency assistance from the United States that has for many years built strategic and sustained military and intelligence frameworks for fighting terrorism.
“We note that the insistence of the Government of the United States that all strategic military, anti-terrorism and counter insurgency engagements must be in accord with the Leahy laws.”
The caucus further urged the US, through Blinken, to “impress on the Nigerian government, as an act of principle, to stay within the realm of prohibition by not deploying received military assistance against citizens, who embark on legitimate and constitutional agitation, including agitation for self-determination and secession, which are legitimate aspirations under our laws and treaties entered into by Nigeria.”
The statement further read, “Secretary Blinken should as a matter of urgency hold the Nigerian government to account for the wanton assaults on rights, abuse of state power, systematic use of state violence to suppress peaceful protesters, particularly activists of the #EndSARS movement and campaigners for self-determination, extrajudicial killings, intimidation of the judiciary; and declare to this government that abuses of human rights have consequences.”
5,000 sign petition to jail Buhari in one hour
A petition by bestselling author, Reno Omokri, on the change.org platform received 5,000 signatures in just one hour.
The petition, which was filed on Wednesday, was directed at the International Criminal Court and comes after the Lagos #EndSARS panel indicted the Buhari administration in its report.
At 5,000 signatures, the petition is the first of Nigerian origin to hit that number in an hour.
The petition is titled, ‘A Petition to The International Criminal Court to Arraign Muhammadu Buhari for Crimes Against Humanity’.
