Judicial Panel Set Up to Investigate Nigerian Military’s Human Rights Abuses

Acting Nigerian President, Yemi Osinbajo, has been commended by Amnesty International for the set-up of a judicial panel to investigate purported violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by security agencies in Nigeria.

Justice Biobele Georgewill of the Court of Appeal will head the seven-man Commission, which will submit its report on the suspected abuses in three months. Acting President Osinbajo announced that the Commission will review the conformity of the Nigerian Armed Forces to human rights responsibilities, expressly in insurgency circumstances and local conflict.

Amnesty International stated that the panel has created an opportunity for victims of serious human rights violations across Nigeria to finally have justice. The director of Amnesty International’s Nigerian division, Osai Ojigho, demanded that the victims be granted the protection necessary to offer evidence without fear.

The Nigerian Government and the Nigerian Armed Forces have been subject to accusations from both national and international media, which alleged that the military was left to investigate itself and free itself from human rights abuse allegations. This sparked the request from Amnesty International that the Government guarantee the Commission be both impartial and independent.

Mr Ojigho maintained that transparency will be brought to the Commission if it has all the necessary resources, before further stating that the Nigerian Government’s chief concerns should be the dignity of human life, and bringing perpetrators to justice in fair trials.