Association of Nigerian Scholars
in Diaspora, ANDS, on Thursday, faulted the recent report by the US Department
of State on corruption and human rights violation under the President Muhammadu
Buhari-led Federal Government.
The association gave its position
in a communiqué at the end of a meeting to review the country reports on human
rights practices for 2018.
A report by the US Department of
State entitled, “2018 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices,” accused the
Nigerian government and the military of arbitrary and unlawful killings.
Prof Bitrus Gamwa, the President
and Pita Agbese, the Secretary-General, who signed the communiqué, urged the
Federal Government to communicate the rejection of the report in writing to the
United States through its embassy in Nigeria.
It said part of the report was
filled with half-truths, misleading information and outright lies that are
meant to subjugate Nigeria by way of bringing the country to heel in aligning
with US geo-strategic interests even where they run contrary to Nigeria’s
interests.
It noted that the report
deliberately took aim at crucial government agencies of Nigeria “in a bid to
make it appear like a repressive regime contrary to its democratic credential
as a popularly elected government”
It reads: “The questionable
support for criminals is the excuse under which the United States issued the
report and similar reports that undermine the Armed Forces of Nigeria for the
benefit of terrorists like Boko Haram, ISWAP, the Islamic Movement in Nigeria
(IMN) and militants in the Niger-Delta. These groups that qualify as terrorists
by internationally accepted definitions are apparently being supported by the
United States.
“The US report made another
attempt at delegitimizing the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act 2014 by
presenting it as repressive, an inference that ignored the legislative process
adopted by elected Federal Lawmakers to arrive at the legislation.
“The kind of make-believe
rendition and account of events showed that the people behind the report have
lost the capacity to distinguish between what impacts the wellbeing of
country’s citizens and the Hollywood script they modelled the report after.
“It is most unfortunate that the
US went ahead to publish the section meant to discredit Nigeria even when it
clearly does not meet the benchmark for a rigorous academic research to warrant
being taken seriously by anyone anywhere in the world.
“Considering the United States’
stated geo-political objective as stated in the general preface to the report,
it is apparent that the assessment of Nigeria would have still been negative
irrespective what steps the country had taken to address known lapses from
decades ago.
“The report is predicting and
expectant of growing disaffection among the opposition, their becoming
militarized and terrorists becoming more belligerent and escalating attacks
against the state while the fear of censure would have pushed the military into
inertia.
“The Association rejects the
report in its entirety and invites other professional bodies of Nigerian origin
to do the same while mandating the Federal Government to communicate the
rejection of the report in writing to the United States through its embassy in
Nigeria.
“The Association will withdraw
recognition for any report to which the US government is connected or
affiliated until it withdraws the questionable contents it has published
against Nigeria. Such reports, including the Country Reports on Human Rights in
its entire series, will not be recognized until the lies contained in the 2018
edition are corrected.
“It urges all the government
agencies that were maligned in the report to take advantage of the right of
reply to set the records straight.
“The Association urges the
Federal Government to take all steps guaranteed under international conventions
to demand that the United States correct the malicious lies being told against
the country.
“The meeting of the Association
agreed to be proactive in preparing the correct assessment of Nigeria to
coincide with the 2019 edition of the Country Reports on Human Rights to ensure
that the records are not muddled up for Nigeria in another consecutive year.”
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