Lawyer Files Lawsuits At Federal High Court, ECOWAS Court To Compel Arrest Of Arewa Youth Leaders
Mr.
Vincent Egechukwu Obeta, a lawyer, has, on behalf of Igbo people
resident in the North, filed three lawsuits before the Federal High
Court in Abuja, and the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) Court to compel the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to arrest
within seven days members of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (ACYF),
led by Mr. Yerima Shettima.
The lawyer announced the filing
of the suits in a world press statement made available to
SaharaReporters. In one of the lawsuits, Mr. Obeta is seeking an Order
of Mandamus of the Federal High Court, compelling the IGP to arrest Mr.
Shettima who, in July, issued a quit notice to Igbo people based in the
North.
The second is a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed
at the Federal High Court against Mr. Shettima, the IGP and the Federal
Government. The seeks to enforce the rights of the Igbo to move freely
throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part of the country as
guaranteed by Section 41(1) of the Constitution.
Arewa Youth leaders The
third is a fundamental rights enforcement suit, filed at the ECOWAS
Court, against Mr. Shettima, the IGP and the Federal Government.
Mr. Obeta said should the IGP fail to comply with the Order of Mandamus
to arrest Mr. Yerima, if granted by the Federal High Court, he will
approach the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, The
Netherlands, to press criminal charges against them. One of the charges,
he said, will be the aiding and abetting of a second genocide against
the Igbo in the North.
“My criminal suit for such second genocide
against Ndigbo in the North will be filed against Shettima, the IGP,
the Attorney- General of the Federation (AGF), Professor Ango Abdullahi
and Professor Yemi Osinbajo as the Acting President of Nigeria when the
threat of a second genocide against Ndigbo in the North was issued,” he
explained.
He added that the IGP, AGF and Professor Osinbajo will
be charged before the ICC as for deliberately neglecting to arrest and
prosecute Professor Abdullahi, Mr. Shettima since the issued the quit
notice.
The lawyer warned that if it becomes necessary to head to
the ICC on account of the IGP’s refusal to comply with the Order of
Mandamus, he will be left with no option than to press charges against
those behind the 1966 genocide against the Igbo in the North.
Mr. Obeta noted that the AYCF has suspended the quit notice, but warned
that the suspension cannot, in law, banish the grave offense the group
committed.
“Nothing short of such arrest and prosecution will
suffice to settle the three suits as filed. It is no longer news that
the cynical silence and manifest bias of the Federal Government and its
agencies since the treasonable threat against the Ndigbo was issued have
encouraged and opened a floodgate of hate speeches and songs,” the
lawyer said.
He observed that the Igbo in the North and indeed,
all around the country, have been victims of cynicism, oppression, and
extreme marginalization since the end of the Nigerian Civil War. He
equally noted that the Igbo have been regularly killed by northerners.
Despite the atrocities against them, Mr. Obeta said the Igbo have
remained law-abiding and have continued to contribute, through their
enterprise, to the socio-economic development of Nigeria.
He
accused the Federal Government of shirking its responsibility of
protecting the Igbo and actively encouraging hostility towards them.
“The
1966 massacre of the Igbo in the North, was not only condoned but was
celebrated by eminent Northerners, who, indeed, gloated openly over the
gruesome event. The 1966 genocide against the Igbo in the North has,
since the end of the Civil War, been swept under the carpet to the
extent that it has been banned by the Federal Government from being
mentioned in history lessons in all Nigerian schools. Furthermore, it is
even not allowed to be mentioned in public and any such mention
otherwise is regarded by the Nigerian state as treason,” claimed Mr.
Obeta.
The lawyer contended that since 2015, when the current
government took office, the Igbo complaints against repression and
marginalization have been equated with treason. This, he said, has seen
defenseless civilians killed by soldiers, especially at Onitsha, Anambra
State. He pointed out that a recent Amnesty International report stated
that at least 150 unarmed civilians and have shot dead in Onitsha by
soldiers since 2015.
“It is extremely distressing that coming out
of all the recent discourse across the Federation, (which Discourse has
been ignited by the ongoing agitations by Ndigbo), Professor Yemi
Osinbajo and all other eminent / elder statesmen have obscenely remarked
that in as much as Alhaji Yerima Shettima’s quit notice to Ndigbo in
the North is condemnable, the ongoing agitations by the same Ndigbo
should stop forthwith.
That is, they mean that the treason
committed by Alhaji Shettima is a befitting response to the agitations
of Ndigbo, which have since the end of the Civil War been equated to
treason in any event,” said Mr. Obeta.
He also called on the US
President, UK Prime Minister, President of China and other world leaders
to pay attention to the plight of the Igbo in and use their influence
to end the persecution
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