|
Stop Using Soldiers For Domestic
Peace-Keeping
- Nigerians Tell Obasanjo
Lagos, Thursday January 10, 2002:
Nigerians have condemned the drafting of soldiers by the
Federal Government to warring communities of Tiv in Benue and Junkun in
Taraba states. According to them it was inappropriate on the part of the
Federal Government to draft soldiers to warring communities, for the
purpose of peacekeeping as their training do not prepare them for such
operations.
Nigerians also condemned in equal terms, the
force-for-force approach by the Federal government at solving the problem
of warring communities, saying such approach will not stop the killings of
security agents.
Advising the government, Nigerians said the need to guard
the new democracy is imperative, and that democracy and violence do not go
together.
However, they commended the federal government for setting
up a panel of investigation headed by Professor Tekena Tamuno, which they
said a right step, provided the recommendations are implemented.
These were the opinion of most Nigerians in public poll
recently conducted by Media Rights Agenda under its Executive Watch
project. The survey was conducted in eight cities in various
geo-political regions of the country. The cities include Lagos, Ibadan,
Benin City, Enugu, Port Harcourt, Kaduna, Kano and the Federal Capital
Territory, Abuja. It polled Nigerians of various works of life from the
age of 18 years, irrespective of the educational qualification.
In November 1999, 12 policemen on a peace-keeping mission
to Bayelsa State were allegedly killed by militant Ijaw youths.
Consequently, President Olusegun Obasanjo deployed soldiers to Odi
allegedly to arrest the militant Ijaw who killed the 12 policemen. The
soldiers destroyed Odi town and killed over 200 persons. The incident was
condemned by many Nigerians.
Barely two years after, in October 2001, and in a similar
manner comparable to the Odi massacre, 19 of the 23 soldiers sent on a
peace-keeping mission to the warring communities of Tiv in Benue and Jukun
in Taraba were abducted and killed allegedly by Tiv ethnic militia, while
three others remained missing.
The killing of the 19 soldiers came on the heels of
complaints by the Tiv people that soldiers deployed to keep the peace were
actually taking sides with their opponents to fight them. There were no
known government investigations of the allegations.
During the burial of the soldiers, President Obasanjo was
quoted by the press as saying that he has directed the security agents to
track down and bring to book the perpetrators. After his statements,
soldiers were drafted to the warring villages, and in what appeared as a
reprisal attacks, over 150 Tiv villagers were allegedly killed by the
soldiers.
In his comment thereafter, President Obassanjo blamed the
soldiers for often overstepping their bounds when drafted for
peace-keeping operations. He, however, admitted that they were not
trained for such operations. President Obasanjo has since set up a panel
on “National Security” headed by professor Tekena Tamuno to investigate
the killings and make recommendations.
Out of the 6,157 respondents polled in the survey, 3493
(56.7%), said despite earlier complaints by the Tivs that the soldiers
sent on peace-keeping mission were taking sides with their opponents, the
killing of the soldiers was not justifiable, while 2,523 (41%) others,
regarded the killings as justifiable. One hundred and forty-one
respondents, representing 2.3 per cent, were however, undecided.
On whether the reprisal action of the soldiers was
justifiable, 3,239 (52.6%) said ‘No’, while 2,785 (45.2%) said ‘Yes’. One
hundred and thirty-two others representing 2.2 per cent were undecided.
Asked whether despite President Obasanjo denial,
respondents believe that the soldiers deployed to track down and bring to
book the perpetrators, were deployed with specific instructions to avenge
the killings of their colleagues, 3,989 (64.8%) said ‘No’, meaning they do
not believe the reprisal killings was officially sanctioned. Two thousand
and seventy-four (33.7%) others said ‘Yes’, meaning they believe the
reprisal killings were premeditated and officially sanctioned.
Ninety-four others, representing 1.5 per cent were undecided.
Responding to the question whether respondents think that
it is appropriate to use soldiers for the purpose of peace-keeping when
such soldiers were not trained for such operations, 3,777 (61.3%) said
‘No’, while 2,276 (37%) said ‘Yes’. One hundred and four respondents
representing 1.7 per cent were undecided.
On the question whether respondents have confidence that
the outcome of the panel of investigation headed by Professor Tamuno would
see the light of the day, 3,673 (59.7%) respondents said ‘No’, while 2,415
(39.2%) said ‘Yes’. However, 69 (1.1%) respondents were undecided.
Lastly, asked whether the force-for-force approach adopted
by the government would prevent warring communities from killing security
4,032 (65.5%) said ‘No’, while 2,102 (34.1%) said ‘ yes’. However 21
(.4%) respondents were undecided.
Contact:
Ademoyewa Johnson
Campaigns Officer
Tel/Fax: 01-4930831
E-mail; pubs@mediarightsagenda.org |
