Mr. Aye addressed the “wave of macabre repression” which has included “hundreds of Shi’ite Moslems killed in Zaria” and state-sanctioned murders of “the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB)” members in Onitsha last week.
The United Action for Democracy (UAD) National Convener, Baba Aye, called on the Nigerian government to halt its mass repression, murder, and unlawful detention of citizens across the Federation. These statements were issued during a December 21st, 2015 press release.
Mr. Aye addressed the “wave of macabre repression” which has included “hundreds of Shi’ite Moslems killed in Zaria” and state-sanctioned murders of “the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB)” members in Onitsha last week.
The UAD faulted the Nigerian government and military for not learning from recent history, noting the parallels between the massacre of Muslims in Zaria and unlawful detention of Sheikh Zakzaky to the murder of Boko Haram’s former sect leader Mohammed Yusuf. The UAD stated “the continued detention of El-Zakzaky is in no way justifiable. UAD thus calls for his immediate release and the establishment of a judicial commission of inquiry into the Zaria killings which should include the trade unions and civil society movement.”
Mr. Aye also argued in his statement that the pro-Biafra sentiments in southern Nigeria are linked to the “Nigerian state and the class of bosses who control it, including those from the South Eastern states, have failed the generality of common women, men and youth.” He added that “detaining or killing persons who stand for the secession of ‘Biafra’ is in no way a solution to the secessionist agitation which is now rife in the South East.”
Connected to the failings of the Nigerian government and military are the death sentences given to 66 soldiers for mutiny allegations. The UAD described itself as “shocked” at the verdict considering the wave of “revelations of the ‘armsgate’ [scandal]” which confirms the correctness of their action.
The UAD called for the unconditional pardon and reinstatement of the 66 soldiers involved with these court cases, saying “anything short of this is rabid injustice and utterly condemnable.”