Presidency expresses reservation over Amnesty International’s Report on Nigeria

The Federal Government has expressed reservation on the role that Amnesty International is playing in the war against terror in Nigeria.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, made this position known in a statement in Abuja on Monday.

“While President Buhari cherishes and encourages the noble ideals on which institutions like Amnesty International are founded, the organisation’s operations in Nigeria seem geared towards damaging the morale of the Nigerian military.

“It often appears as if the Nigerian government is fighting two wars on terror: against Boko Haram and against Amnesty International.

“The obvious bias and inaccuracies in Amnesty International’s recent country reports on Nigeria risk Amnesty’s reputation as an impartial international organization,’’ the statement added.

President Buhari, therefore, appealed to the leadership of Amnesty International to scrutinise its advocacy in Nigeria, “especially as it relates to the war against terrorism’’.

In the report titled, “Harvest of Death: Three Years of Bloody Clashes Between Farmers and Herders’’, Amnesty International found that 57 per cent of the 3,641 recorded deaths occurred in 2018.

The report claimed that “the security forces were often positioned close to the attacks, which lasted hours and sometimes days, yet were slow to act. In some cases, security forces had prior warning of an imminent raid but did nothing to stop or prevent the killings, looting and burning of houses’’.

However, Nigerian Army had since condemned the report and called for the closure of the Amnesty International offices in Nigeria, alleging there is credible evidence the organisation is working hard to destabilise the country.