The Coalition Against Terrorism and Extremism (CATE) has accused the Amnesty International of plotting to replace Boko Haram with another deadly terror group, using the dreaded Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN).
CATE said AI’s penchant for distortion of facts was a deliberate attempt to creating enabling environment for the spawning of terrorism in West Africa.
The group was reacting to a recent report released by the agency where it alleged that they have obtained “footage of a shocking and unconscionable use of deadly force by soldiers and police against members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN” also known as Shi’ites.
CATE, therefore, challenged the Amnesty International to be truthful in addressing human rights issues, especially those relating to Nigeria and the West African region.
National Coordinator of the group, Gabriel Onoja, at a press conference yesterday, said the recent assertion by Amnesty International in which it called on the federal government to hold security forces accountable for alleged killing of IMN members was a campaign of incitement against the Nigerian state.
According to Onoja, “We are concerned that Amnesty International is onthe way to providing the incentives to make its ally, the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) into a replacement for Boko Haram, after it became glaring that Boko Haram will never be able to provide the kind of destabilisation it had hoped for. What is ridiculous, however, is for Amnesty International to be repeating the same strategy it deployed in support of Boko Haram terrorists.
“Part of the pattern being promoted by this NGO is to attempt decriminalising the atrocities being committed by IMN extremists. This consists largely of using images of IMN members that died in clashes with security agencies to draw attention away from the acts of terrorism committed by IMN prior to and in the course of confrontation
with the security forces.
“Members of the group, under the pretext of protesting for the release of their leader, Ibrahim El-Zakyzaky, obstruct the roads and harass other commuters. We wonder if Amnesty International is aware that among the road users that are trapped in the gridlocks created by these protests are patients being rushed to hospital for life saving
medical intervention.
“The suggestion of this so called international NGO is that it is okay for IMN to obstruct the roads in manner that kill people even though charges may never be brought against them and that the persons that will die in such agonizing manner do not have rights.”
