Shiites: Former APC spokesman seeks Buhari, Buratai’s trial for genocide

A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Timi Frank, has said President Muhammadu Buhari and the Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Tukur Buratai, should be tried for genocide over the killing of unarmed members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria.

Frank said the two public officers should face trial at the end of their tenure of office. He made the call in Abuja, on Monday.

He enjoined local and international human rights organisations to take note of “the unprecedented record” of brutal killing of the peaceful protesters since the current administration came on board.

Frank said it was sad that instead of upholding the provisions of the constitution which made it incumbent on the government to secure the lives of citizens and ensure their welfare, the current administration was doing the opposite.


He said, “The President Buhari-led administration has been releasing members of the Boko Haram terrorist group under the guise of ‘repentant terrorists’ yet he sees nothing wrong with  security forces attacking peaceful protesters clamouring for the release of their leader who was granted bail by the courts.”

Recall that on Sunday morning, the protesting members of the IMN clashed with soldiers in the Zuba area of Abuja, which left three of the sect members dead and several soldiers injured.

The former APC  spokesman advised the government against encouraging the continued use of deadly force on defenceless civilians as doing so would be counterproductive at the end of the day.

Speaking in a similar vein, the National Coordinator of the Human Rights Writers Association, Emmanuel Onwubiko,  said it was time the Nigerian state invested more on training its military to respect the dignity of the human person.

He noted that Nigeria as a signatory to virtually all international human right laws and the Geneva Convention had a duty to protect the lives of its law abiding citizens.

Onwubiko said, “We cannot afford to continue to use brute force on defenceless citizens when we need more of our resources deployed to tackling the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East.”