A Niger Delta based human rights group, the International Society for Social Justice and Human Rights (ISSJHR) has rejected the calls by Northern Elders for amnesty to terrorists who kill, maim and kidnap innocent Nigerians for ransom, stressing that those linking their actions to Niger Delta militants are completely off track.
The Chancellor of ISSJHR, Dr. Omenazu Jackson, in a statement, said that the terrorists operate within and outside their region, while the Niger Delta militants focused solely on the Niger Delta region and didn’t embark on needless killings, noting that the position for amnesty to terrorists “is morally indefensible, legally untenable, and historically dishonest.”
Jackson said:”We epresses grave concern and unequivocal condemnation over recent calls by some religious and community leaders in Northern Nigeria advocating for the granting of amnesty to terrorist and bandit groups, including “Boko Haram, ISWAP” and allied armed factions, under the false pretext of parity with Niger Delta environmental and economic rights agitation.
“For more than a decade, terrorist violence in Northern Nigeria has resulted in tens of thousands of civilian deaths, with millions displaced from their homes. Entire communities have been wiped out. Thousands of houses have been razed. Churches, mosques, schools, and markets—spaces meant for worship, learning, and livelihood—have been deliberately targeted and destroyed.
“International and local human rights monitors, including UN-affiliated bodies, have documented: mass killings of civilians, including women, children, and the elderly
“Kidnapping of schoolchildren, most infamously young girls and boys abducted from classrooms; systematic sexual violence, including rape and forced marriages, as well as forced displacement creating one of Africa’s worst humanitarian crises.
“These crimes have triggered global outrage and international condemnation, placing Nigeria repeatedly before the United Nations Security Council, Human Rights Council, and international humanitarian agencies.”
He added: “Yet, disturbingly, many of the same voices now advocating amnesty remained silent while these atrocities were committed. Silence in the face of mass murder, followed by calls for forgiveness without justice, constitutes a generational shame and a betrayal of the victims.
“For the avoidance of doubt, there were no terrorists in the Niger Delta struggle. What existed were environmental and economic rights agitators responding to decades of ecological devastation, loss of livelihoods, and state neglect.
“Their grievances were articulated, documented, and validated internationally, including through United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) assessments. The Niger Delta struggle was rooted in environmental justice, not ideological extremism.”
“By contrast, Boko Haram and ISWAP are globally designated terrorist organizations, criminalized under UN Security Council Resolutions and international counter-terrorism law.
“Their actions meet every threshold of terrorism under international humanitarian and criminal law and cannot be equated with rights-based agitation under any legal or moral framework.”
The ISSJHR Chancellor said that “amnesty without accountability rewards violence”, and that “jstice for victims must precede reconciliation”; arguing that “Nigeria, as a member of the United Nations, is obligated under the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy to prevent not only terrorist acts but also the justification, normalization, or ideological laundering of terrorism.”
He urged “the Federal Government of Nigeria to publicly reject all narratives equating terrorism with environmental or economic rights agitation,” adding that “security and judicial authorities should investigate and restrain any actors promoting or excusing terrorist violence.”
