Popular Lagos-based human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has called on
former President Olusegun Obasanjo to apologise to Nigerians over the
deployment of the military to invade communities under his
administration.
Speaking while criticising Obasanjo for urging President Muhammadu
Buhari to negotiate with the embattled leader of the Indigenous Peoples
of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, Falana said the administration led by the former
President clamped down on agitators.
Obasanjo had in a recent interview with the Newsweek Magazine
advised Buhari to negotiate with Kanu to curb the secessionist
agitations instead of the deployment of soldiers in the South-East.
He said, “I don’t see anything wrong in that (Buhari meeting
with Kanu). I would not object to that; if anything, I would encourage
it. I would want to meet Kanu myself and talk to people like him; people
of his age and ask, ‘What are your worries?”
Falana, in a piece sent to The PUNCH exclusively and titled ‘IPOB
Proscription and Hypocrisy of the Ruling Class,’ recalled that the
Obasanjo-led administration detained and tried leaders of secessionist
movements.
He said,
“In calling for a dialogue between President Buhari
and Mr. Kanu, former President Obasanjo ought to have apologised
publicly for the military invasions of Odi in Bayelsa State and Zaki
Biam in Benue State ordered by him.
“The basis of the call should have been explained since
President Obasanjo charged Niger Delta militants, leaders of ethnic
militias and separatist movements with treason, which led to their
prolonged detention in prison custody.
“Convinced that former President Obasanjo has realised that the
criminalisation of such agitation did not achieve its objective, his
suggestion for a dialogue should be seriously considered by President
Buhari and the South-East governors.”
The activist lawyer also faulted former President Goodluck Jonathan
for calling for a meeting of the Council of State to resolve the crisis
caused by the secessionist group.
He said,
“For goodness sake, why was such a meeting not called
before soldiers were deployed in the Niger Delta to deal with militants?
Did President Jonathan call any meeting before deploying soldiers all
over the country for the 2015 general elections in defiance of the
judgments of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal?
“Instead of suggesting irrelevant meetings, the root causes of
the increasing loss of faith in the corporate existence of Nigeria by
unemployed youths and other poverty-stricken people should be urgently
addressed by the ruling class.
“As a matter of urgency, the underdevelopment of the nation
caused by the mindless corruption and criminal diversion of public funds
by unpatriotic public officers on our hapless people should be
addressed.”
Falana urged the National Assembly to enact an enabling law as
required by Section 217 of the Constitution on deployment of members of
the armed forces by the President.