“Boko-Haram” Terror: The Chilling Killing Of 510 Igbo Christians Amounts To Systematic Ethnic Cleansing & Crimes Against Humanity

caption: Emeka Umeagbalasi

“Boko-Haram” Terror: The Chilling Killing Of 510 Igbo Christians Out Of The 714 “Boko-Haram” Related Deaths In 12 Months (January 2011-January 2012) Amounts To Systematic Ethnic Cleansing & Crimes Against Humanity.

Sir: Above subject matter refers.

(Onitsha Nigeria, 18th day of January, 2012)-On Friday 9th day of December 2011, we in the International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety), Onitsha, Anambra State of Nigeria, sent to Your Excellency two copies of our reports titled: “How Over 54,000 Nigerians Died Outside The Law Since 1999” and “Police Corruption As Human Rights Abuse: How Corrupt Personnel Of The Nigeria Police Force Illegally Enriched The Force With N53.48Billion ($336.5Million) Arising From Roadblock Extortion In Three Years-2009-2011”. The two reports were attached with eleven pictures each and a covering letter. The “proof of delivery” returned to our Secretariat (41, Miss Elems Street, Fegge, Onitsha) indicated that Your Excellency’s office received the reports on Tuesday, 13th day of December 2011, two days after they were launched. We also posted the reports on Your Excellency’s “facebook wall-page”. Unfortunately and sadly too, Your Excellency neither commented on the serious complaints raised in them nor acted on any of their far-reaching recommendations.  Innocent Nigerians particularly Igbo Christians have continued to be slaughtered like fowls in their fatherland on daily basis and the 371,000-person (Wikipedia Encyclopedia 2011) Nigeria Police Force that ought to protect them is busy molesting and extorting other living Nigerians on Nigerian roads especially the roads leading into and out of South-east geopolitical zone.

The killing Of 510 Igbo Christians:
Other than the two reports particularly the chilling death of over 54,000 Nigerians outside the law since 1999, our further investigations show that up to 510 Igbo Christians may have been slaughtered by politically and ethnically backed “Boko-Haram” Terror Sect in different parts of the Northern Nigeria, from January 2011 to January 2012. This did not include the Jos killings of 2011, where it is believed that up to 400 Igbo Christian traders alone including 48 of them (killed on 8th day of January 2011 at Dilimi and Bauchi Road Markets in Jos) died, out of over 1000 people killed. According to the Associated Press account, at least, 510 people (most of them Igbo Christians) were killed by Boko-Haram Terror Sect in 2011. In the past three weeks that is to say between 22nd day of December 2011 and 13th day of January 2012, at least 300 innocent Nigerians have been killed. This includes about 60 people including Christmas returnees trapped and slaughtered on Enugu-Abakiliki Road on 31st day of December 2011 as well as 35 Nigerians (rights groups’ account) killed countrywide by over-zealous security forces during the national protests and strikes over “petroleum subsidy removal”. The Inspector General of Police claims that eleven people including two security operatives were killed during the protests.

Strictly speaking Your Excellency, in the past three weeks (22-12-2011-13-01-2012), according to respected local and international media, up to 204 innocent Nigerian Christians including, at least, 150 Igbo Christians have been murdered by “Boko-Haram” Islamist Sect. And out of at least 510 people murdered by the violent Islamist Sect in 2011 (Associated Press), at least 350 of them are Igbo Christians. The targeted and systematic killing of Igbo Christians stems from age-long ethnic hatred, disproportionate police protection, and gross insecurity in the Igbo residential and trading areas of the North as well as Igbo pastoralism (migration). Available statistics from the media concerning the 204 “Boko-Haram” Sect’s killings in the past three weeks show that on 22nd day of December 2011, at least six people (Igbo Christians) were slaughtered in Damaturu, Yobe State, Northeast Nigeria; on 23rd day of December 2011, at least 68 people including (many) Igbo Christians, police personnel and soldiers were killed in bomb blasts believed to have been detonated by violent “Boko-Haram” Sect in Damaturu, Yobe State; on 25th day of December 2011, at least 35 parishioners including over 25 Igbo Christians and two passers-by (Muslims) were massacred at  St Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla in Suleja, Niger State, North-central Nigeria. The chilling deaths resulted from bombs detonated by the violent “Boko-Haram” Islamist Sect. At least ten more people mainly Igbo Christians were killed in bomb blasts that hit churches in Jos, Plateau State, North-central Nigeria and Gadaka, in Yobe State, Northeast Nigeria. 

Furthermore, on Thursday, 5th day of January 2012, at least eight members of the Deeper Life Bible Church many of them Igbo Christians were shot dead by “Boko-Haram” Islamist Sect during their church service in Gombe, Gombe State, Northeast Nigeria; on Friday, 6th day of January 2012, at least 20 Igbo Christian traders were massacred by “Boko-Haram” Islamist Sect in Mubi, Adamawa State, North-west Nigeria. Eighteen of the slain traders are from Adazi-nnukwu Community in Anaocha LGA, Anambra State, Southeast Nigeria. They had gathered in a meeting to plan for the funerals of their fellow Igbo Christian traders, who were killed by the violent Islamist Sect the previous day, when armed “Boko-Haram” elements emerged again at the scene of the meeting and opened fire killing fifteen of them. In the Madalla massacre of 31st day of December 2011, the Awka-etiti Community in Idemili South LGA of Anambra State lost four families.  On the same date (6-01-2012) at least, eight members of the Christian Apostolic Church were killed in Yola, Adamawa State by “Boko-Haram” Islamist Sect during their church service. Many of them are Igbo Christians; and on Saturday, 7th day of January 2012, at least, three people were killed in Lamurde area of Adamawa State when “Boko-Haram” related violence broke out.

On Sunday, 8th day of January 2012, “Boko-Haram” Islamist Sect in Borno State, Northeast Nigeria, killed six civilians. According to police and military sources, three civilians died in Maiduguri during an attack launched by the Sect on a military vehicle and three others were shot dead in Biu LGA of the State. At least, three of them are Igbo Christians. On Monday, 9th day of January 2012, twelve members of the Christ Apostolic Church, many of them Igbo Christians were attacked and killed by the “Boko-Haram” Islamist Sect during their church service in Yola, Adamawa State. Eleven of them were killed on the spot, while one of the five of them who were critically injured died later in the Yola Specialist Hospital according to the local media reports.

On Tuesday, 10th day of January 2012, the Associated Press reported that two Igbo Christians were killed in Maiduguri, Borno State. One Col. Victor Ebhalame of the Nigerian Army was quoted as saying that “Boko-Haram” Islamist Sect attacked two Christian homes there killing two. One SSS operative was also reported killed same date in Biu LGA, Borno State. On same date, 10th day of January, 2012, the police sources in Yobe State confirmed that eight Igbo Christians were shot dead by “Boko- Haram” Islamist Sect in a popular beer joint located in Doruwa, Potiskum and another Igbo Christian was killed in his shop in Damaturu all in Yobe State, Northeast Nigeria. On Wednesday, 11th day of January 2012, four Igbo Christians including a woman boarding a 14-seater yellow Mitsubishi bus with a registration number Anambra XE241 NSE were shot dead at MRS Filling Station in Texaco area of Potiskum in Yobe State when they stopped to refuel. They were returning to the Southeast Nigeria when suspected “Boko Haram” Islamist elements alighted from two motorbikes and opened fire killing them instantly at about 11:30am. Three people were reported killed in Pyakiman in Tafawa Balewa LGA in Bauchi State on 11th day of January 2012. On Friday 13th day of January 2012, two Igbo Christians were shot dead in a beer parlour in Yola, Adamawa State and on same date, two more people (Igbo Christians) were shot dead in a food joint located in the Gombe metropolis on Friday night. According to the owner of the food joint, Mrs. Evelyn Sunday, the suspected “Boko-Haram” gunmen arrived the joint, stood at the door and opened fire killing two people on the spot.

From the foregoing Your Excellency, 300 innocent Nigerians have been killed in the past three weeks, that is to say between 22nd day of December 2011 and 13th day of January 2012 and out of this chilling figure, 204 people were killed by “Boko-Haram” Islamist Sect, out of which over 150 are Igbo Christians. This figure represents the recorded incidents alone.  Some Igbo residents in the affected areas told Intersociety that a number of “Boko-Haram” related killings go unreported. The remaining 96 killings arose from the massacre of 60 innocent people including Christmas returnees in Ebonyi State, Southeast Nigeria, which took place on 31st day of December 2011, under the pretext of “ prosecuting Ezza-Ezilo inter-communal conflict”. The said conflict, which also led to the death of some innocent road users, has resulted in the loss of over 300 lives since 2008. The 36 other unlawful killings arose from the one-week countrywide strikes and protests over the removal of the Premium Motor Spirit’s subsidy. The 36 deaths, as documented by some rights groups, were as a result of over-zealousness and high-handedness on the part of the Nigeria’s security forces particularly the Nigeria Police Force. Added to 350 Igbo Christians killed by “Boko-Haram” Sect out of 510 people it killed in 2011, it is correct to say that 570 Igbo Christians have been killed in recent months with “Boko-Haram” violent group responsible for 510 in one year, while the Ebonyi State massacre accounted for the remaining 60.

Chillingly Your Excellency, out of the 300 unlawful killings in the past three weeks, 220 are Igbo Christians. Undoubtedly, the killing of Igbo Christians at no provocation in Nigeria particularly in her northern part has become a norm and re-occurring decimal in the country. It is recalled Your Excellency that out of over 16,000 unlawful deaths arising from sectarian violence in Nigeria since 1999, about 50% or 8,000 of them are Igbo Christians, mostly family breadwinners and active population. Further to this is the fact that out of over 5,000 deaths arising from the Jos killings since 2001, at least, 2,000 are Igbo Christians and out of over 2,000 deaths arising from election violence in the country since 1999, about 1000 of them are Igbo Christians. Also, out of over 17,000 police extra-judicial executions in Nigeria since 1999, 40% of them or 7,000, if not more, are Igbo Nigerians. In the plain languages of the Nigeria’s body of laws including the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 as amended, which Your Excellency swore to protect at all times, as well as various international rights treaties, these unprovoked and unwarranted killings amount to “systematic ethnic cleansing, pogrom and crimes against humanity”. While the Igbo race is innocently and patriotically participating in the “Nigerian Project”, there seems to be consolidated efforts by some of her fellow “partners in the Nigerian Project” to wipe her people off the Nigeria Map. Unfortunately and sadly too, these “wipers” seem to enjoy the tacit backing of the government machinery. The Rwandan history and her 1994 genocide tell us that the worst undoing of any government is failure on its part, to protect citizens against the hatred and attacks from other citizens.

The Rwandan genocide of 1994 and the killing in a suspicious plane crash, of the then presidents of Rwanda and Burundi was mainly as a result of the failure of the then Rwandan government to quench the systematic ethnic cleansing directed against each other by the Tutsi (14% of the Rwandan population) and the Hutus (84%). For records Your Excellency, the Twa ethnic group makes up the remaining 1% of the Rwandan population. It was the failure of the then Rwandan government to protect her citizens and her lending supports to the Hutu militia against the Tutsi that forced the Tutsi refugees in Uganda, who helped to bring President Yoweri Museveni to power in 1986, to regroup under the Rwandan Patriotic Front, from where it launched attacks at Kigali in December 1989, which snowballed into a genocide and ousting of the then central government in July 1994. In Israel, any failure on the part of the Government of Israel to protect her citizens at all times will lead to the Israelis being wiped off the world map. The recent assassination of a Tehran professor and director at the Iranian nuclear facility is, perhaps, part of the “security of the State of Israel”. The security of the citizens by government, no matter their tribe or religion, is the “first among equal” as per government’s fundamental responsibilities.

Disproportionate Policing Of The Citizens:
The indiscriminate and ceaseless killing of Igbo Christians, fundamentally, is as a result of lopsidedness or disproportionate policing of Nigerian citizens by Nigerian security forces particularly the Nigeria Police Force. It is correct to say that there exists “hausanization” security policy in the Nigeria Security System. While it is entirely correct to say that most residences of people from the northern Nigeria residing in the southern Nigeria particularly Muslims including their mosques are properly policed and protected by Nigerian security forces, the Igbo Christian residences including their churches are grossly left porous and unprotected by the same security forces. The recent massacre of, at least, 20 Igbo Christians in Mubi, Adamawa State, North-west Nigeria, where a meeting called to plan for the funeral of those killed the previous day, led to the massacre of fifteen more people by the same Islamist armed group that struck and killed some of them the previous day, is a case in point. It is clear to every Tom, Dick and Harry that other than planting and detonating bombs, the armed “Boko-Haram” Islamist Sect makes use of motorbikes in most, if not all of its homicidal operations, yet various police, military and the host State governments’ authorities sit idly and allow tens of Igbo Christians mowed down or slaughtered like cows in their fatherland on daily basis, owing to age-long hate of the race and gross incompetence.

Corruption & Gross Incompetence Not Under-Policing Is The Bane Of The NPF:
We wish to disagree with Your Excellency over Your Excellency’s recent statement to the effect that part of the inability of the Nigeria security forces particularly the Nigeria Police Force to tame the menace of “Boko-Haram” Islamist Sect is because Nigeria has a police ratio of one for 500 Nigerians or that the country is under-policed. Permit us Your Excellency, to say that it is corruption and gross incompetence and not personnel that is the problem of the Nigeria Police Force. Even the United Nations’ basic requirement of one police officer for 400 citizens is becoming out-fashioned owing to the arrival of electronic policing or technological policing and intelligence. Out of over 600,000 legally armed public security personnel in Nigeria, 371,000(Wikipedia Encyclopedia 2011) or about 62.3% of them are from the Nigeria Police Force, yet the Force is disfigured and defaced by corruption and gross incompetence.

As we write Your Excellency, there are varying figures emanating from the offices of the IGP, the Police Affairs Minister and the Chairman, Police Service Commission with respect to the number of police personnel in the Nigeria Police Force. It is recalled that a ministerial audit (Police Affairs) has two years ago (2010) revealed that there existed, and perhaps, still exists about 100,000 ghost police officers in the Force. Perhaps, these discrepancies are deliberate plans by the Force top commanders and its over-sight managements to continue to siphon billions of naira from “personnel and over-heads” of tens of thousands of ghost police officers.

Our recent report (Police Corruption As Human Rights Abuse: How Corrupt Personnel Of The Nigeria Police Force Illegally Enriched The Force With N53.48Billion Arising From Roadblock Extortion In Three Years-2009-2011) released on 11th day of December 2011, depicts the chronic corruption in the Force, which hinders its competence and professionalism. Other than corruption, the “old-school” mentality of the Force’s senior commanders, particularly its CPs, AIGs, DIGs and IGP, who are 50 years and above, is a major hindrance that immunes them from embracing modern policing and intelligence. In the Ivory Tower, for instance, many of the professors of 80s and 90s have either become “old age” computer learners/IT students or have hired “new breed” computer wizards so as to cope with “IT revolution” or evolution in education. In some polytechniques, disciplines such as “Secretarial Studies” with “manual typewriting methods” now bear a new name called “Office Technology Management” in recognition of technological evolution. But in the Nigeria Police Force, it is “old-school till thy kingdom come”. Accurate or sound database for its members is totally absent, not to talk of having a computerized central control system and overall electronic policing. As we write, most of its 371,000(Wikipedia Encyclopedia 2011) personnel are on Nigerian roads particularly in the Southeast, molesting, brutalizing and extorting innocent road users at the instance of the Force top commanders. It is rather saddened that the NPF’s 6,651 field formations countrywide are not digitally connected.

Your Excellency’s several promises of “fighting corruption” are seen by most Nigerians and international watchers of Nigerian events as a ruse because of the corruptive activities of Your Excellency’s police personnel on Nigerian roads. Despite several representations made to Your Excellency by concerned corporate and private citizens including Intersociety, it has continued to appear as if Your Excellency approves of the glaringly graft activities of the Force personnel. If it is true that the police personnel in the country are made to buy their service uniforms and boots as well as fueling and maintaining their operational vehicles, which they claimed made them to extort, then what happens to tens of billions of naira budgeted yearly for such statutory over-head expenditures? Why did the IGP not made to offer explanations to his Commander-in-Chief, if it is true? Why did Your Excellency decide to keep quiet over such gross graft practices particularly roadblock extortion? That is not to say that the forgoing excuses are legally excusable to infract the law and morality. Another bane of the Nigeria Police Force that militates against its preemptive, protective, detective and combative security capacities is the geopolitical lopsidedness in its top command structure. Among the Force’s 37 CPs with State command positions about 24 of them are northern Muslims and among over 60 CPs without State command positions, many, if not most of them are northern Muslims. Among its over 20 AIGs, over 70% or 14 are northern Muslims, and among its seven DIGS four out of the five Muslim DIGs are northern Muslims.

This is a clear violation of Section 14(3) of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 as amended. From the foregoing, Your Excellency’s recent statement to the effect that “Boko-Haram” Islamist Sect’s elements are in the security forces, executive, legislative and the judicial arms of the Nigeria’s Federal Government may not be far from the truth. Similar imbalances may also abound in other security establishments. In a country like Nigeria that is better referred to as “a consociation democratic society”, or a society where ethnic and religious hatred is age-long, the security sector should not be sectionalized. The “hausanization” of the Nigerian Security System has so degenerated to the extent that today, “Hausa Language” is the second official and compulsory language in all the security establishments after English Language, which is Nigeria’s official language.

In all, Your Excellency, it is deeply sad that these Igbo Christian killings have been treated with kid gloves and along sectional lines by both government and organized labour, possibly on the grounds that “ so far it is Igbo Christians that are being slaughtered, so be it”. We know as a fact that if it were to be Yoruba or Hausa people that are slaughtered, the killings would have become a major national issue and the Federal Government would have arrested it long ago. Unfortunately, though, as expected, consistent priority is given to “fuel subsidy removal” more than the daily slaughtering of innocent Nigerians mostly Igbo Christians. We totally agree with the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor that the Southern governors particularly the South-east Governors’ Forum failed woefully in their constitutional duties to ensure the safety of their brothers and sisters residing in the northern parts of Nigeria. Their failure as well as the failure of the leaderships of the National Assembly and the South-east Houses of Assembly to rise in strong condemnation of the killings is totally condemned. Individualistic or skeletal condemnations in this respect are immaterial.

Demands:
In view of the pathological hatred, which the Igbo race have continued to receive from other dominant tribes in Nigeria, not minding the robust economic contributions of the race to their economies, the round-the-clock protection of the race that have become endangered species in their fatherland, expressly falls on Your Excellency in accordance with Section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 as amended as well as her Chapter Four. It is recalled Your Excellency that it was as a result of sustained fears expressed by the Minorities over their insecurity in the would-be independent Nigeria that led to the enshrinement of the “Fundamental Human Rights Clause” into the Independence Constitution of 1960, with the same Constitution commanding the Government to ensure their security at all times, which remained so till date. Therefore, we demand that Your Excellency should take concrete steps to end further slaughtering of Igbo Christians in any part of Nigeria as well as to pacify the souls of those slaughtered so that they can rest in peace and spare Nigeria of dooms of unquenchable proportions to come if their immortal souls are not made to rest eternally.

We wish to restate that contrary to Your Excellency’s recent statement, it is corruption and gross incompetence and not personnel or weapons that is responsible for the woeful failure of the Nigeria Police Force to live up to the country’s mountainous security challenges. To this effect, Your Excellency should take steps to tackle head-on, the rabid corruption in the Force particularly the roadblock extortion. For instance, in our recent report (Police Corruption As Human Rights Abuse) we recommended for the abolition of indiscriminate roadblocks countrywide and their replacement with fewer strategic security checkpoints to be compiled by the IGP and approved by the Federal Executive Council. A DSP or SP should head each of the would-be special security checkpoints with a mixture of secret operatives. We had also in the report advised against over-reliance on anti-riot police personnel as “operational crime fighters”.  The need to make the NPF intelligence driven, etc was also emphasized. In view of the fact that the present command structure of the Nigeria Police Force is grossly lopsided geo-politically, we demand that Your Excellency should take immediate steps to remedy the anomaly in accordance with Section 14(3) of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 as amended.

Also, in other to refocus the Nigeria Police Force and make it responsive to the “scientific policing”, all serving Commissioners of Police, Assistant Inspectors General, Deputy Inspectors General and the IGP, who are 50 years and above should be retired with statutory benefits and among the remaining CPs, DCPs and ACPs, a new IGP with expertise in modern policing should be appointed in accordance with Section 215(1)(a) of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 as amended. The defence of “experience” is immaterial in a Nigerian sort of police force where “experience” is nothing short of mastery in crookedness, professional incompetence and analogous managerial leadership. As a matter of fact Your Excellency, some incompetent service chiefs should also be replaced. To effectively combat the menaces of “Boko-Haram” Islamist Sect and other security challenges, effective intelligence gathering and usage, and inter-security services coordination and collaborations are required. Solutions to these security challenges do not lie on the bloated security budget of N921Billion or procurement of Armoured Personnel Carriers, Helicopter Gun-ships and machine guns. Any enemy-armed group that is elusive and scientific requires likewise methods to tame it otherwise any contrary security approaches will end up causing more civilian causalities.

We demand that Your Excellency should urgently call a special meeting involving all the 36 States’ governors, the leadership of the National Assembly, the service chiefs and key members of Your Excellency’s federal cabinet so as to find an effective solution to the unprovoked and unwarranted killing of Nigerians particularly the Igbo Christians, just as Your Excellency did few days ago, which resulted in ending the week-long national strikes and protests over “fuel subsidy removal”. This is because information reaching us as at Tuesday 17th day of January 2012, indicated that house to house search of Igbo residents and killing of Igbo Christians are still going on in Maiduguri, Damaturu, Potiskum and other parts of the north that are worse hit by the systematic ethnic killings. The worst is that those of them who want to return to their communities in the Southeast are trapped. We fear that the killing patterns may have been changed to secret and unreported killings, with security forces suppressing the figures, when rarely reported.

We wish to use this opportunity to call on the Southeast Governors’ Forum and the transporters of Southeast extraction to send vehicles with security back-up to the affected areas so as to evacuate their entrapped brothers and sisters particularly those residing in Jigawa, Borno, Adamawa, Gombe and Yobe States pending when the porous security situations in the areas are nipped in the bud. These dire situations are as a result of the incompetence and seeming incapacity of the Federal and the host States’ Governments to guarantee and ensure their safety.

Lastly Your Excellency, as a party to the Statute for International Criminal Court, which Nigeria ratified in 2001, we demand that Your Excellency writes and invites the new Chief Prosecutor for International Criminal Court, Madam Fatou Bensaida and her team to Nigeria to commence investigations into these chilling killings, particularly the slaughtering of Igbo Christians in the North, as well as the Jos killings, so as to truly unmask those involved, whether they are in government, ethnic or religious enclaves. This is in line with the recent public statement issued by Madam Navanethen Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. It is also in accordance with relevant provisions of the ICC Statute and the Charter of the United Nations. 

Signed:

Emeka Umeagbalasi             
Chairman, Board of Trustees                                                    
For:
International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule Of Law
Mobile Phone Nos: +234(0) 8033601078, +234(0) 8180103912
Email: umeagbalasi@yahoo.com,info@intersociety-ng.org
Website: www.intersociety-ng.org

 Ref: Intersoc/Sec/001/01/012/Presd/Villa/ABJ
 To:
Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
President & Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces
Federal Republic of Nigeria
State House
Three-Arms-Zone
 FCT, Abuja