Dr Chidi Odinkalu
The recent massacre and slowly but steadily act of genocide against the Shiite Islamic movement in Nigeria, is not only condemnable, but anti-people and unconstitutional. Freedom of Expression is enshrined in the Constitution of virtually all the democracies in the World and Nigeria is not an exception. Processions and peaceful protests are adjuncts of Freedom of expression as enshrined in our Constitution. We have heard different versions of stories from both the Shiites Leaders and Officials of the Nigerian Army of what transpired on the 13th of December, 2015. This is not the first time the Army will have a bloody face-off with the Shiites. It was said that, the protesters barricaded the road, thereby preventing an easy passage of the Army Chief and his crew.
The question lots of people have failed to answer is; If the protesters blocked the road, how come most of the dead bodies were found in the home of the Shiite Leader and not on the said road that was blocked? The brutal killing of more than 500 members of the Shiites, by the Nigerian military has drawn condemnation from World leaders and Human Rights groups all over the world. Here in Nigeria, the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof. Chidi Odinkalu has condemned the attack; In his reaction he described the action as “a massacre,” as he posted photos on social media showing a bulldozer tearing apart a shrine of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria. Contrary to military claims that the leader of the Shiite movement, Sheik Ibrahim El zak Zaky is well, the rights boss disclosed that the spiritual leader suffered four bullet wounds and one of his wives was killed in the raids that began on Saturday and ended on Monday morning. “Citizens must ask who ordered this carnage?” Odinkalu tweeted” What drew my ire is to expose the hypocrisy and cowardly disposition of Prof Odinkalu and his crew.
Down South, the South East in particular there has been incessant peaceful protests by the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), calling for the release of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu. And the Nigerian Military and other trigger happy security operatives have fired live bullets at the protesters killing some in the wake. The silence from Prof. Odinkalu and his crew for the past 2 months the IPOB protests have been going on can best be described as conspiratorial. I am surprised that Prof Odinkalu could react less than 48hrs to the Kaduna fracas, but kept mute to a similar right abuses that has been taking place for the past 2 months in the South East, his place of origin. In trying to sound and appear politically correct and fair, Prof Odinkalu has shown to the World that he is in cahoot with the Political Cowboys that has held this Nation by its jugular. I never knew some animals are actually greater than some.
