Defence chief, Irabor, rights activists, bicker over who should pressurise terrorists to surrender

The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Lucky Irabor, and human rights activists in Nigeria have disagreed over who should put pressure on terrorists in the country to surrender to the government.

The CDS, who spoke on Monday in Abuja at the opening ceremony of a three-day training on ‘African Commission Guidelines on Human Rights in Counter-Terrorism Operations’ organised by the Centre for Strategic Research and Studies (CSRS) of the National Defence College (NDC), said if the groups put the same amount of pressure on terrorists like it puts on the government, the insurgents will be quick to surrender.

He has urged the human rights activists to assist the military in mounting pressure on Boko Haram insurgents and compel them to come to the negotiaton table with the Federal Government.

According to Irabor, if the “rights crusaders take the campaign for human rights to the terror organisations, the conflict will be resolved faster with attendant reduction in casualties.”

“What I need to put forward to you and, of course, the rest other actors within the human rights system, is that often you find out that greater attention is given to the government forces that are dealing with terrorism, with little or very minimal attention to the adversaries, the Boko Harm and the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP).”

Read also: CDS Irabor tells Nigerian media to “tone down hype” on insecurity

However, the Executive Director of OSIWA, Aisha Osori, who spoke on behalf the groups, said it was not the duty of human rights groups to mount pressure on terrorists or force them to surrender.

“We don’t recognise terrorists and they also don’t recognise us, so we can’t mount any pressure on them.

“That is why we are holding our armed forces to task to eliminate those who have taken up arms against the state.

“But in doing so, we should not degenerate to the level of the terrorists by disrespecting human rights.

“In Nigeria, there have been reports of excessive use of force by the military in operations across the country.

“With the military deployed in 35 of the 36 states of the federation, the need to train the soldiers on human rights cannot be over-stated,” she said.

By Isaac Dachen…

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