Following the reported killing this week of unspecified number of Nigerians in Ivory Coast, a call has gone to President Goodluck Jonathan to immediately put machinery in motion to air lift all Nigerians from that crisis – prone country before the anticipated military action by the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union to unseat the intransigent Laurent Gbagbo.
Following the reported killing this week of unspecified number of Nigerians in Ivory Coast, a call has gone to President Goodluck Jonathan to immediately put machinery in motion to air lift all Nigerians from that crisis – prone country before the anticipated military action by the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union to unseat the intransigent Laurent Gbagbo.
The Federal Government should also report the unlawful and extra-legal killing of Nigerian citizens by the Ivorian Armed Forces to the United Nations Human Rights Council for remedial action.
Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA) a democracy inclined and development focused non-governmental organization which condemned the killing of Nigerians by the Laurent Gbagbo’s- controlled soldiers said posterity will not forgive the current federal administration in Nigeria if it fails to enforce the much- talked about ‘citizenship diplomacy’ by providing safe passage to stranded Nigerians in Ivory Coast before any military action is ordered by either the sub-regional or continental bodies to remove Laurent Gbagbo who has failed to relinquish power to his rival – Alassane Quatara who beat him in the December 2010 presidential elections.
In a statement signed jointly by its National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Director of Media Affairs Ms. Zainab Yusuf, Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA) said though it supported any measure including military action to be adopted by the international community to ensure that democracy is restored in Ivory Coast, but cautioned President Jonathan not to sacrifice the lives of hundreds of thousands of Nigerians currently stranded in Ivory Coast on the alter of “his hasty Chase for International laurels and Commendation” by supporting immediate military action without first and foremost air lifting all Nigerian citizens out of Ivory Coast.
HURIWA said: “We are indeed sad to learn that several Nigerians have been killed by the renegade members of the Ivorian Armed forces loyal to incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo. The killing of these innocent Nigerians residing lawfully in Ivory Coast is reprehensible, despicable and unwarranted; we hereby call on the United Nations Human Rights Council to immediately probe the unprecedented rise in gross human rights violations including several cases of extra-legal executions carried out by soldiers in Ivory Coast on the orders of the embattled president Laurent Gbabo in his desperation to retain Presidential power by all means. We call on the United Nations security council to arrest all those responsible for these heinous crimes against humanity and prosecute them before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands.”
The Rights group which warned the incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast to be ready to face similar ordeals like former Liberian President Charles Taylor in the International Criminal Court, further stated: “Section 19 (a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides that the foreign policy objectives shall be the promotion and protection of the national interest. It is in Nigeria’s national interest that the fundamental human rights to life of all Nigerians are protected wherever they may reside around the World. The Federal Government is also under constitutional obligation to air lift all stranded Nigerian citizens from Ivory Coast before a full blown military action takes place.”
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