Nnamdi Obasi

The global conflict prevention organization, International Crisis Group (ICG), has called for a full scale inquiry into the recent extra-judicial killing of hundreds of Nigerian citizens in the city of Zaria.

The call follows last weekend’s deadly clashes between soldiers and members of a religious group, the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), in which a large but yet unconfirmed number of people, mostly members of the group, were killed.

In an interview with its Senior Analyst, Nnamdi Obasi, the Brussels-based conflict-prevention think-tank urged that the proposed inquiry should identify any individuals whose actions triggered or aggravated the violence, and recommend appropriate legal sanctions.

The inquiry, the ICG says, should also “make provisions for redress and compensation for the many innocent people who suffered human or material losses during the violence”.

Observing that President Muhammadu Buhari “was silent in the first three days after the violence”, ICG urges the president to respond “urgently and directly” to the situation.

The group calls on the president to re-assure all Nigerians, particularly those directly affected by the recent violence, “that his government is committed to the rule of law and will not condone impunity by any group, civilian or military”.

Recalling that the extra-judicial killing of Boko Haram’s leader Mohammed Yusuf in police custody was a major factor that tipped that group into a deadly insurgency, Crisis Group urges the Buhari administration to “avoid a repeat of the 2009 blunder”.

It particularly calls on relevant government officials and agencies to “comply fully with the law” in their treatment of the hundreds of IMN members arrested in connection with the recent violence.

For the military, Crisis Group observes that the Nigerian army already has “a questionable human rights record”, and urges the nation’s military authorities to “take every possible action to avoid worsening that record”.

It calls on the authorities to sanction any officer or officers “whose actions may have abused or violated citizens’ rights” during the violence.